Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Online
by Leafblade13
Summary: Aaron completed the beta test as a Riolu and fell in love with the new VRMMORPG successor to the Mystery Dungeon series. When it was officially released, he was ready to join guilds and parties to win the game...but what would happen when beating it was his only escape? With the logout button missing in a now-deadly virtual reality, will Aaron ever return to the real world again?
1. Chapter 1 - Intro

July 31st, 2025

The ethereal glow of the computer screen offset the overall darkness that occupied my room. Truthfully, it was relatively late in the night. My sister had gone to bed an hour ago and my parents just turned out their lights. However, I was staying up extra late; the server will finally be unlocked worldwide.

I glanced up at my alarm clock, which sits conveniently on a night stand near my low-standing bed. The defined numbers, bolded with thick, red coloration, read 11:56. A small little PM indication hangs off the side of the eight. I smile—two more minutes until I can finally relive the beautiful game I played before.

First, let me explain. Out of the three million applications sent to Game Freak's recent Pokémon sweepstakes, only about 500 people got to play Pokémon's first VRMMORPG spinoff demo. Somehow, I was one of the lucky few picked. The only requirements to win the sweepstakes were to own a Nintendo Vii and have an account on Pokémon's official website. The Nintendo Vii is, of course, an innovation of the regular Wii from the earlier 2000s, but it now includes the virtual reality concept introduced by the Oculus Rift. With the hookup, the Nintendo Vii could send the user into an almost-perfect world that feels just as real as the one we live in today.

As I was in an upper class family, my parents had no problem buying me the Nintendo Vii the day it came out. The first games were poorly crafted; the recently-released Unova remakes are still full of bugs after several months. However, Game Freak is not involved directly with this _particular_ spinoff. A new company—called True Reality—has taken over control to give us an exciting game with even more possibilities: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Online.

And as a beta-tester for the game, I knew all the nooks and crannies. Most of the concepts of the past PMD games were the same—belly, IQ, move sets, dungeons—but there were striking advances made for this particular game. You were the Pokémon, like before, but this time you actually _were_ the Pokémon. This game did not have a single player mode, either; it's an MMO, which means everyone is going to collaborate together. Teammates weren't limited to NPCs—they're your actual friends. You created your own guilds and teams and explored in groups of two to six. The game was fascinating. The Arkaés region was full of dungeons you had to beat together, so cooperation was a must.

I don't know how many dungeons there were in the game, but my friends and I beat the ninth dungeon boss the last day the demo was playable. What happens after the last boss is also a mystery to me, but the thrill of becoming a Pokémon was absolutely amazing.

With now only three minutes left on the clock, I turned back to my computer screen after going over all the basics in my head. My computer still displayed the chat I had with my fellow beta-testing friends. One of them, BoyBuizel, posted a message of anticipation.

"Get ready, Rio!"

Buizel was the character he played in the beta. Though we were in a party of six, the two of us were much closer than any of the others. I learned recently that he lived about 45 minutes from my town of Salinas, California. We yearned to meet each other at some point, but with everything so busy the past few days, we lost track of time.

I glanced back over at my clock to see 11:59 PM in the anticipating red lettering. I turn on the game console and put the Nintendo Vii—which is a helmet (in order to persuade the senses of in-game reality)—over my head. I press the small power button and close my eyes. The menu is present in front of my eyes and I see the small PMD:O icon still being labeled as "unreleased." I refreshed the screen multiple times. Refresh, unreleased. Refresh, unreleased. I almost turn it off to message the others when the game suddenly opens itself up without my authority. Startled, I wondered if it's a bug or an update.

The screen froze for a moment, but soon a gray message box popped out in front of me. It required the usual words that all Vii games require—the vocal command:

"Game start!" I whispered.

Suddenly, my own mind went numb as the game opened itself up and my imagination slipped away into the technology. The Nintendo background rocketed itself toward my eyes with a pulsating, almost hypnotic effect. I found myself falling into a tube of color, of pixels, and finally let myself go into the familiar beginning of "game start."

My senses kicked in as I found myself standing on a small white circle in the middle of black nothingness. Suddenly, a light blue screen popped up in front of my face. It began with statements about my account and its relevance to the game.

"We have recorded your beta test progress and thank you for your dedication," it read. I scrolled down further.

"Because of your participation, you are awarded the choice of your Pokémon for the first run-through of the game."

It suddenly changed to one of the loading screens with the circle spinning endlessly. It loads my name, my age, and my gender. Soon after, another screen appeared—the Pokémon choosing screen.

The concept was unique. Other than legendary Pokémon and evolved forms of Pokémon, you could be anything you wanted—a Bulbasaur, a Cleffa, a Clauncher. However, I noticed some of the Pokémon choices were blank. As I scrolled through, I realized most of the starters were already gone. Eevee had the fraction 5/8 next to its name. With some panic, I slid my fingers against the screen until I got into the 400s in National Pokédex order. I stopped scrolling as the screen's dial spins the numbers. 426, 434, 440, 442, 443. I slightly moved the arrow one last time to point to the number 447—the Emanation Pokémon.

"Your choice is Riolu?" the screen read. I pressed the confirmation button and three different buttons appeared on the screen.

I read the choices: Inner Focus, Steadfast, and Prankster. These three abilities were at my selection? I clicked the words "Inner Focus" and the screen drew a blank, but it eventually showed the loading sign once again.

One final message stated that my Pokémon had not been chosen yet. However, I thought more than one person could be a certain Pokémon…had the concept changed? If it had, then it would severely limit the amount of players on the server. I dismissed the idea as I dematerialized from the small chamber I selected from.

. . .

I opened my eyes and looked down at my hands. They weren't hands; in fact, they weren't human. My hands were replaced by blue paws. The look was familiar, however the transformation still left me breathless. I feel of my ears, though they felt floppy like a puppy's. My feet were similar—I was a bipedal dog Pokémon.

Of course I had been Riolu in the beta, but that was by random generation. I never really knew about my Pokémon until I became him; after all, I preferred Normal-type Pokémon like Lillipup or Munchlax. After experiencing Riolu's abilities, I knew he was going to be my choice today. I'm a lovable puppy that evolves into a powerhouse. Chicks dig strong dogs, right?

I sat in the grass for a while. Looking around, I was in the same woods that the beta starts off in. However, this area's one of the only user-only areas in the game. I guessed it was for everyone to get used to being a Pokémon, but I just enjoyed taking in the scenery before the action started. I smelled the fresh air, which reminded me of the garden my mom tended to in her spare time. Tomorrow is her birthday, so I cannot stay up too late playing PMD:O, but I could at least get the basics down.

I put my paw into the saturated grass and lifted myself off the ground. Though it was nighttime at home, it is always daylight in the beginning stage. Otherwise, real time is used to correlate with day/night. I walked over to a small pond and looked at my reflection in the mirrored water. A dark mask of black circled my eyes and curved off at my nose, while a yellow collar hid my throat. My eyes looked fierce and brown, just like in real life. The resemblance was rather unfamiliar than in the beta, where you could tell everything was fake. Apart from the Pokémon themselves, the game seemed so alive. I smiled at the natural surroundings, and even though I knew the companies were just showing off their virtual reality right here, I couldn't help but be impressed. The Arkaés region was just so breathtaking when you actually focus on that sort of thing.

I walked over to a brown gate and a small screen popped up:

"Do you need a tutorial before you begin?" it asked.

I declined the offer and walk into my first town: Fountainhead City. As I passed through the gates, I felt strange upon entering the first city. Something seemed off, though the town itself hadn't changed.

The city was divided in four quadrants, and roads distinctively set the boundaries for each area. In the middle of the town stood this large, multi-level water fountain. It was easily several hundred feet in the air. Several Water-type Pokémon, such as a Feebas and a Psyduck, splashed around in the base of the fountain. The water flowed so realistically; I heard its genuinely calm trickling and cool atmosphere. I walked up to the gigantic fountain of marble and dipped my paw into its water. The sensation was so amazing—the beta still had little idiosyncrasies that just seemed off. This time around, though, it was almost perfect. _Almost._

Around the city, bird Pokémon flew and chattered as they appreciated their alternate reality. I admired the tall buildings and noted the Kecleon-ran Pokémart stationed in one of the corners. In another corner was the infamous Duskull Bank, which I always suspected to have stolen some of my money back in beta. Other shops and gyms were available straight away, however I had to get to the meeting place for my gang of friends.

I started to run away from the fountain and sped toward the southern gate of town. I stop at the gate's boundaries and look around. None of the others have arrived yet? Something seemed off. As I began to walk away from the tall arching sign for town, I decided to check the first dungeon to see if they waited there instead. In this game, the edge of town was a portal to the next floor, but still the first Pokémon dungeon.

That's how the world was set up: one floor was a town, the next was a series of dungeon floors that lead up to the second town. If there were ten towns, then the tenth would be on floor 19, with the tenth dungeon on floor twenty.

I stepped into the portal and got beamed to the dungeon's first floor. I opened my eyes and saw the familiar setting of the Tiny Woods. With little trees setting the boundaries of my movement, I knew exactly where to go and how to get there. The only issue was the location of the checkpoint, which is this version's equivalent of the dungeon's stairs. It was a small circle with a green beam slightly emanating from its position. I looked around quickly for both the beam and my friends, but neither were around. I turn to leave, but soon hear the desperate plea for help.

" _Somebody!"_ a voice screeched.

I closed my eyes and gave a pitiful smirk. The poor guy was suffering from the first floor dungeon. How pathetic, right? Nevertheless, I quickly ran through the starting area and into the second, where I see a Fire-type starter running from one of the beginning Rattata. His eyes grew wide when he saw me and quickly hid behind me.

"Please, help me, Riolu!" he said with intensity.

Before I asked him how he knew my name, I gave myself an internal face-palm. I'm a Riolu. I smiled at my ignorance and quickly encountered the Rattata in battle. Both of us were at level one. While that could sound difficult, many Pokémon worked together on this floor in the beta, so it was easy to finish quick with a few level-ups.

"Okay," I began. "I'll Quick Attack and you use your best move."

The Pokémon, an orange chimp, frowned. "What?"

I paused and looked him over. His green cursor, which demonstrated both his human-operated actions and his clean slate in regard to the legality of the game, was already evident without noticing it above his head. The frightened look and unsure attitude indicated he was new to the game.

I wiped my forehead as the Rattata stared me down. It has a small red cursor above it, signalling the fact that it was a monster and not a player. Now, Pokémon wouldn't normally wait on a first move, but this was the first floor and we're allowed to talk strategy. As such, I turned to the Pokémon one last time.

"If you're a Chimchar," I continued, "then you use your Scratch attack when I tell you to, alright?"

Chimchar nodded with optimism. "Got it!"

With one space between myself and the Rattata, I used Quick Attack and knocked into it despite being out of regular range. The Pokémon took few points of damage, but I nodded for Chimchar to do a follow-up Scratch attack from the side. The Rattata then shot at us with a Tackle attack and I dodged it by hitting with another Quick Attack. Chimchar used Scratch on its hide to knock it out, and I finished the foe with one last use of my priority move. With that being my only move, I have no STAB to get a boost from. From the experience, we both leveled up one and I guided Chimchar out of the dungeon and back to the safety of Fountainhead City.

. . .

We teleported back through the gates and Chimchar falls over from the relief. He quickly scrambled back to his feet and shook my hand vigorously.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You saved my life! What's your name?" he said with a little too much enthusiasm.

I flinched from the eagerness in his voice. "Just call me Riolu," I remarked. "You know, it's smarter to wait for, or make some, friends before going off into the dungeon. It doesn't matter right now since you'll just be beamed back near the fountain, but in the later dungeons, and even the later floors, you need to team up with people. Even the lower floors have Monster Houses now, you know," I smiled.

"What? You must be one of those beta testers!" he grinned. "Thank you for the information! Do you have any room in your party to include me?"

My smile faded. My party actually was reserved by five other people, which reached the maximum capacity for Pokémon parties. I'm just waiting for some people.

"Sorry," I murmured. "I'm waiting on five friends to come online. I do hope we'll get to work together at the front lines, though!" I said with some perkiness in it.

"Front lines? Do you mean like on the back of the game cover? The people who 'raid' those boss rooms? Do you think I could do something like that?" Chimchar asked, his flaming tail burning bright.

"Of course," I laughed. "Anyone can since there isn't any danger to it. If we fail at the raid, we just get everyone back together and teleport back to the door. It's no big deal."

The two of us exchanged a few more comments and parted ways. Technically, he left me at the gates while he went to go recruit friends. I stayed in hopes that my friends would eventually come. I quickly clicked in the air and summoned a Main Menu screen. I scrolled through the options to check the time. It was 12:04 AM. All that happened in four short minutes? I scrolled all the way down to where the logout button is and figured I'd catch up to the others later.

"Huh?" I whispered.

For some reason, the logout button from the beta mode was gone. I looked through all of the other settings, the bag, the tactics, etc. Nothing was there. I quickly ran back over to where people were at. I saw a familiar friend from the beta test—none other than Buizel himself— screaming at Fletchling as they raced to where I was just located. I greeted them and exchanged a few words really quick.

Buizel, an orange-colored sea otter, was my best online friend. He was clumsy and forgetful, but his humor makes up for everything. Fletchling was cool, too, but he couldn't always keep that cool. He had temper tantrums every now and then. The two were the other attackers in our party, though I was the main offense with my Force Palm back in beta.

"Guys, do you have a logout button?" I asked desperately.

Buizel quickly shook his head. "That's what we were gonna tell you, Rio. It's gone!"

"It's just a bug," Fletchling snapped. He fluttered his wings in crazy impatience. "But I'm missing sleep! We were going on a trip to Florida tomorrow and now I'm going to be all cranky."

Buizel and I exchanged smirks. We were obviously thinking about Fletchling's anger already, and an especially ill one would yield lethal results. As I glanced up at the fountain out of mere coincidence, I noticed the bottom section of marble began to glow in an in-between of white and light yellow. Suddenly, the second and third sections followed the pattern and the top portions began to light up and exhibited a mystical glow. The sky soon flashed white and the clouds began swirling above the fountain. Pokémon were being teleported straight to the fountain's base and were looking up. I noticed Shieldon, Budew, and Whismur eventually caught up to us, completing our party of six. We huddled closer together as we looked inside the far-above funnel cloud that reaches the heavens of the first floor.

A white orb of energy soon descended from the clouds and stopped at the tip of the fountain. The ball of light exploded into the beautiful appearance of a coveted Pokémon. Its white body was edged with gold along the legs, and its forehead assumed a similar color. Around its midsection was a golden "X" formation that circled the body. Either side of the "X" featured a golden curve that intersected the two lines to create a shape almost like a crossed out pair of parentheses. This Pokémon could be nothing else but a god, or God himself.

"Hello," the masculine voice said with a booming intensity, "and welcome to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Online. You may have noticed that the logout button is not currently available."

I sighed in relief as I realized the developers are merely making a patch. Of course they made some sort of grand explanation rather than having us force-close the game and start all over again. This also made the game very realistic.

"This is not a bug," he continued.

 _What?_ I blinked in disbelief.

"This VRMMORPG I created was designed to present the ultimate gaming challenge towards Pokémon lovers—living the lives of the Pokémon you captured and trained in the regular games. Whether you were a beta tester and got to choose your Pokémon or just had a randomly generated avatar, you now have to play as that Pokémon and complete the entire game."

I, along with Buizel and many others, gasped at the announcement. Complete the entire game? Even my party of six, which were the strongest frontline members of the beta test, could only make it past the ninth boss in the span of a _month_. How are we supposed to make it this far now?

"You cannot escape this reality alive until you defeat the game…which means that if you are to die in battle, you will die in the real world. Disconnection from the Nintendo Vii will result in the destruction of your brain."

Hundreds of Pokémon were completely silent. What does that mean? We're stuck in here to die?

After sensing the thick remorse spreading through the air, the game developer continued. "That is correct, the sensory connectors to the brain are fully-functioned to shock you to your death. Do not be alarmed, though. Tomorrow morning, the world will know to keep these devices on until you defeat all 49 dungeons and dare to challenge me to a duel in the very last. Tomorrow afternoon, I will allow your bodies to be carried to the hospital, but know that not even the best doctors or hackers can remove this device without causing internal damages."

The details flew around in my head for several seconds. If we were stuck in the game, how would winning cause our release? Was that all just a cover so he could watch us play? I reminded myself we didn't even make it to the tenth dungeon in the beta.

"If you want to waste your time away forcing Pokémon to battle in 'competitive' tiers without even appreciating the finest peculiarities each game explores, then you will waste your own life as one of those Pokémon battling by force. Rest up, gamers. There are less than 400 of you—one for each Pokémon, and a few exceptional multiples exist to cover every evolution. No final evolution is the same. It is rare to find two of the same basic forms. Make your teams well, trainers, because by the end of this game, either you win or you die. It is your call."

After the speech ended, the godly creature went back up into the atmosphere. There was no Q&A session, no lively conversational atmosphere. He was gone. He left over three hundred Pokémon clueless and afraid, myself included. There was no doubt the beta testers were planning to take over the markets and buy everything they could. There was no doubt the newbies were going to panic in a frenzy and miss out on all the items. The only doubt I had was in what _I_ was going to do. Luckily, I had a party to back me up through the game. We're an unstoppable force. We knew how to start everything off. And until the tenth dungeon boss, we knew how to fight every monster. We were living in a nerd's paradise—a video game apocalypse.

I turned my group of five friends. Shieldon was glancing toward the ground, Budew and Whismur were huddled together, Fletchling was squawking around, and Buizel was picking in his ear. I scrunched my eyes and thought hard about the process to escaping the game. I opened my menu screen and saw I had 1000 Poké that served as the default amount for beginners. I opened up the "gift" menu and sent 100 of my Poké to my orange weasel friend.

"What's that for?" he asked.

I looked around Fountainhead City. Pokémon were running around screaming, some running into the dungeon already. How much longer until the first boss would be defeated? Buizel caught onto my thinking and nodded his head.

"Guys," he said, "give me 100 Poké to cover the cost of lodging. We're going to be stuck here for a few days."

As the others readied their menus, I took over the explanation.

"A party-sized apartment is 200 Poké a night. We have a total now for a month's worth of rent. The developers did that on purpose. However, we aren't staying here a month. It will take us three days _tops._ Therefore, we may as well give 100 each to go ahead and afford three days of rent. The rest will be used for food and supplies. We are getting out of this," I shouted.

The five others shouted in agreement. Buizel took the money and hurried toward the apartments to buy one while he still could. I looked at the others and smiled weakly. Fletchling, the usual snob, was actually sobbing on the ground—and not because of his temper. He was scared. I shifted my focus to the other three members of my team, the ones that were late to the meeting.

"Shieldon, I want you to find out how to get a Defense Scarf as fast as you can. Budew, you need a Zinc Scarf. Whismur, just find a good berry. Do you all understand? We'll switch items up later, but we need defense on these early floors."

The three of them nod. Shieldon banged his shielded face on the ground. "I just hope it doesn't end up too hard. I can handle both defenses, but I have a four-times weakness," he frowned.

I thought about mentioning how his typing granted him _two_ deadly weaknesses, Ground and Fighting, but the effort would just be wasted. Shieldon's impeccable defense in the first floors, and especially in the mid floors, caused his usefulness to skyrocket. Normal-types were common in the beta test. My STAB and his typing meant the two of us could cover both grounds easily, but we still had quite a few skirmishes we screwed up. Even with Buizel, a powerhouse in his own right, we're severely limited. That's why this game has parties of six and not four—we need every type we can get. Budew's typing matched Shieldon's decently, plus her special defense made for a strategic move. Budew also absorbed the status moves most of the time. Natural Cure was so amazingBuizel and I were the clearers, Fletchling was the switch-in backup, and Budew and Shieldon were the defenders. Our team was a strategy of its own. This was what made our beta progress so strong.

"A berry?" Whismur whispered. "What kind of berry do I need? What kind of berry would work in this situation?"

My grin barely held through. Whismur was a last-minute addition to our team. As Buizel's little sister, she was definitely accepted without question, but the problem was that she joined towards the end of the game. She mainly took an attack for us and fainted so we could keep going. It isn't that both of them got the beta pass; that would be too fortunate. She found out her friend from eighth grade had the code and never used it. When Buizel had her join, we were stuck with her. But now, this is a dangerous game. We can't let petty differences restrict people from staying alive…but we also couldn't have dead weight.

"Preferably an Oran Berry," I said, stretching the corners my closed mouth as far up as my muscles would allow. I had to be nice to her so she wouldn't be afraid. I at least owe that to Buizel.

"I'm worried about the new players," Budew said innocently. She was just a year older than me, but she acted more mature than the typical seventeen-year-old girl. "They don't know how to play a game like this—not a virtual one."

Budew was always the caring one. She's a destined healer; she trained so hard to reach the right level for Aromatherapy in the beta. When we get up in the further dungeons, her skills will be much more appreciated.

I put on a more serious face. "We won't let them die. We're getting out of this. I'll tell you what—you guys go check out what Buizel got us and I'll pay for the food," I offered.

Fletchling flew up and darted toward the large buildings in one of the town's corners. Budew led the others through the crowd and I moved in the opposite direction. Apples were sold for 25 Poké each—not bad if you buy three a day, but if you're a guild, you have to have sufficient funds from _everyone_.

I walked in between herds of panicked newbies. As a level two, I knew I was going to be training all day tomorrow for the first boss. I have to be level six at _least_ to get a decent number on the very first dungeon boss. With only Quick Attack at my disposal, my knockout streak won't be happening for a while. I ran further on until I finally see them—the Kecleon brothers. One of them was primarily green, but the other was a shiny purple. They had been in so many Mystery Dungeon games before that I was happy to see them return to PMD:O. There was a long line of people in the front of the store. Many newbies were shaking, some checking menus, and others looking over the shoulders of those checking their menus.

As a beta tester, I knew one of the quiet glitches we abused and never reported. I walked to the very edge of the small Kecleon shop, a building shaped appropriately to its owners' heads. I turned at a forty-five degree angle and tapped on the green Kecleon's right arm. As if two Kecleon were occupying one space, one of the characters turned to its right; the NPC's head was in two places on its neck.

"How may I help you?" it asked.

I glanced to see everyone still busy minding their own businesses. I quickly clicked the "Apple" button and clicked the quantity up to six. I was charged and ran off into the decaying sunlight without a single person in sight watching me.

. . .

In the shadows, a creature slowly moved out on all fours. It scurries over to where the Riolu had just recently touched a shop owner on the right arm. Its interest perked, it does the same command.

"How may I help you?" The same incident.

Suddenly, the insect Pokémon sensed someone nearby. It quickly closed the menu and acted surprised.

"Hey, buddy, what are you doing with Kecleon? Is that a glitch?" a Tauros roared with curiosity.

The new glitch abuser smiled. "Sir, I do not know what happened. I was just trying to get his attention."

The Tauros's eyes narrowed. "That's an NPC. They don't respond casually. You wait in line and get the same treatment as everyone else. I'm going to report this glitch and see if I can get outta this prison!"

The Bug-type nodded in approval and quickly slipped back into the alleyway shadows. After a last glance to watch for followers, he grinned ear to ear and laughed to himself quietly. He had just witnessed a character cheat the game. This Pokémon was special—he's adamant and risky. This Riolu was worth monitoring until the time came.

. . .

I made my final sprints be enough to finally make it near the temporary home. I got a message from Buizel saying that he reserved a small two-floor building in a line of identical houses. We were house twenty-three. Once I made it to the twentieth house, I started walking. Each house had a red roof with white support beams leading to the ground. There were a few stairs leading up to each house and a green front door to a white-painted house. Although the houses were cheaply made of wood, they were counted as buildings and were therefore soundproof to the regular ear. I strolled up to house 23 and smiled at the group of five talking and laughing amid the town's displeasure. If I were to be trapped in any death game, this would definitely be my pick.

I heard the scurrying of feet and turned around. A familiar face greeted mine right at the edge of my home. The Pokémon was a baby chick, and I knew exactly who she was by her speed boost. She had orange-colored feathers and yellow-tipped wings. However, she primarily ran. Torchic was a friend of mine from the beta, yet friend is a limited term. She was infamous back then because of her knowledge, and even worse because she made profits from it. She sold information and was tipped when spreading the message between two anonymous players. Torchic was the friend you could never trust but didn't mind being around.

"Hey, Rio," she said calmly. "I see your party's back together. Good for you."

I nodded. "I just wish we were playing as an option, not by force. Are you still in information selling?"

Torchic smiled. "I'll sell you that information for 300 Poké!"

I laughed. Of course I didn't like her, not like that. Still, though, she was witty and outgoing. It was a pity that she liked risking her life—especially now that her life could actually end because of it.

She looked inside the lit house and watched how it almost seemed to brighten up the whole city. "Rio," she whispered.

I acknowledge her and similarly viewed my happy friends conversing. I knew what she was going to say, but I let her say it anyway.

"Huh?"

"I haven't seen many people like you so far. We need you for the front lines. You and your party are the best we've got! Rio, we don't stand a chance without you," she sniveled. Her eyes began to tear up.

Her breakdown was a jab in the back. Reality was panging away at my back with a hammer. The shock brought me to my senses. The pain I was feeling was a pain I'd never experienced…not today, not in the beta.

My heart sank. Tomorrow's my mother's birthday. I had just bought her the brand new curling iron she had admired in the store. I may never give her that curling iron now. New Reality—the company responsible—has taken away my family, my life. My friends were happy now, but what about in the future? On Thanksgiving? Christmas? On a birthday? What happens when we start dying?

I looked to see Torchic had left. I walked up to the steps of the building and held onto one of the support beams. I looked to see Buizel telling some hilarious story, just for him to slip when reenacting the scene and causing everyone to laugh. I glanced down at my paw once again. This reality…this would be it. Anything can happen. One slip up could lead to death. This game, this game of death, was now a harsh reality.

" _Rio, we don't stand a chance without you."_

I opened my mouth to speak to no one.

"You better be ready, New Reality. You're in my territory now."

With that, I regained my calmness, knocked on the front door, and joined my happy friends with a bag full of dinner. The apples tasted sweeter than I remembered. The night was fun and endearing; very few memories would live up to the happiness I felt that very first night.


	2. Chapter 2 - The First Floor Boss

August 14th, 2025

Floor 1: Fountainhead City

It was already two weeks ago that we learned that our lives were sealed inside this reality. At least 50 players had died since then, and 18 of them were from parties of six. They were just like me. The worst part was the fact that no one had made it to the checkpoint of floor five, the last floor, in the first dungeon.

The very first town, Fountainhead City, was officially known as "Floor One" even though its dungeon consisted of multiple floors. The city was packed with scared players still, but many were at least practicing on the very weak Rattata in the first area of the dungeon. As for me, I was now training with Buizel on the fourth dungeon floor. I was at level four and he was just one level behind me. Most of us were in the two to three range, but some were still experience-less. Very few had the courage to fight at this point. Scraping by with rent was also near-impossible; finding generated sums of money was rare, and the Poké wasn't always a large amount; Buizel found one cluster worth only about 7 Poké, which was barely a fourth of an apple.

"Caterpie straight ahead," Buizel mentioned, and I nodded.

"Dodge its String Shot," I reminded back.

Buizel flinched from the playful insult. Back on the second floor, he was caught in a String Shot and nearly got tackled to death by a level one Caterpie. The sight was hilarious, of course, and I was laughing while killing the creature with a Quick Attack. Buizel was nearly as strong as I was, but the Pokémon was so clumsy he was more at risk than I could ever be.

The giant Caterpie inched its way toward us and launched a Tackle attack that I quickly dodged. Buizel used his Slash attack, which was the egg move he acquired thanks to his beta past. The attack sliced Caterpie's HP into a quarter of its max. The attack reminded me to check my own learnset, but I figured I'd do that later. I dodged a String Shot and sprang up with extra speed to kick the Pokémon's HP bar down to zero. It exploded into shattered shards of glass and dematerialized. Buizel and I high-fived. While we worked on leveling up, the others were collecting supplies. Fletchling was supposed to help us fight, but he decided to chicken out at the last minute.

Nevertheless, Buizel and I kept going. We ran through a narrow passageway and I destroyed a Rattata in just a few hits. The floor map showed us that we had one room left to check out, which meant that the very last room were the stairs to the last floor. We were going to make it to floor five! Then there would be just one last set of stairs to find. We entered the room and found another Caterpie guarding the long, ominous series of white steps.

"I'll take the left, you take the right," I said.

"Got it," he nodded.

The Caterpie couldn't be too high of a level; my Quick Attack knocked its health down relatively fast. However, it did launch a String Shot that got Buizel tangled up in a mess. He laid there, stuck, for the remainder of the battle.

"Hey, Buizel!" I shouted in battle. "I guess we should've stuck together!"

Buizel wriggled in the sticky white silk and struggled to get free. He made a face at me and stuck out his tongue. "You're just jealous that I get all the ladies!" he joked.

I ignored his lie and knocked the last bit of health out of the worm. It disintegrated and I helped Buizel get untangled from the tight rope of String Shot. I grabbed his hand and pulled him up. As he dusted himself off, he sighed relatively too loud—and too dramatic.

"Please let us have a break," he grumbled.

I shrugged. "The monsters won't spawn for a while now. I don't mind a break."

Buizel grimaced and went to go find leftover items and Poké lying around. Meanwhile, I inspected the stairs. The perfectly-crafted steps were fascinating, as usual, but the fifth floor of the Tiny Woods dungeon was notoriously hard. Several Pokémon had died trying to get through it. The peculiar thing was that we hadn't encountered anyone in the dungeon so far. Had everyone given up after two weeks? Retreats were difficult without Escape Orbs, but those start on higher-up floors. You had to backtrack completely unless you made it to the checkpoint room. Only then could you teleport between the last town and the boss room, which was just ahead. The checkpoint beamed you to a rest area that could load your storage. The only problem was making it there.

I noticed Buizel wheezing from exhaustion. He wouldn't be able to make it all the way. Me, however…I could do it, probably. I could run all night; it's in my Pokémon's Pokédex entry. Buizel had a higher base speed than I did, but I could still manage to keep a fast pace. My stamina was phenomenal, so surely I could make it to the boss room and set a meeting with everyone.

"I'm going to the next floor," I told my tired friend.

"Don't do it!" he shouted in surprise. "Do you know how many have died in there?"

I nodded. I didn't know the exact number, of course, but I knew it was very dangerous. However, I predicted we'd be done with this floor much earlier than two weeks. Five floors was the lowest amount for any dungeon, and if we were really this weak, then we wouldn't stand a chance on any of the other dungeons.

"I'm going for it," I confirmed.

"Don't do it!" he says once more.

As he attempted to regain his steady breathing, I climbed the cutoff stairs and was led to a random room in the middle of the fifth and final dungeon floor. I opened my eyes to see an empty room; there were no creatures nor allies in sight. I was alone. I started walking and ended up in a long, narrow hallway. I sprinted through it and found myself face-to-face with a rather large Caterpie. I quickly used my priority move just before it was close enough for a Tackle and managed to whittle away its attacks without sustaining much damage. I ate one of my few Oran Berries and recovered all of my health. At least on these lower floors, Oran Berries were the most vital items other than Reviver Seeds. The only question was whether or not those seeds were still in the game's system.

I noticed the hallway ended at a very large room. On my game map display, which was visible, yet still translucent, at the top-left of my sight of vision. The room had the blue-outlined square, which represented the stairs, along with three red dots surrounding a yellow dot nearby. Red represented enemies, of course, but yellow meant human-controlled entities. Someone was in the room with me! I ran through the long room and eventually saw three large Rattata ganging up on a small Pokémon. I watched the fighting and eventually saw the person's shape.

The Pokémon had brown skin with blobs of white, furry cotton on its ears and lower body. It was hopping from side to side, almost as if to project some intimidating boxing stance. Its face was feminine and angelic; I immediately distinguished the Pokémon as a Buneary. Alarmed, I quickly used Quick Attack on the closest Rattata and knocked the rest of its low health to zero, causing it to shatter in between the two enemies it spawned with. The other Rattata took notice of the disintegration and turned around towards me. I quickly zipped beside the Buneary and we put our backs against each other.

"Hey," I said in short conversation.

"Uh, hi," she replied with confusion. "What are you doing here?"

I quickly attacked the Rattata on my end and dodged its Tackle with impressive speed. In an attempt to show off, I run back to her side with a smirk on my face. I know it was probably cheesy to act like that in the face of death, but what can I say?

"I'm just, you know, strolling around," I said slyly.

Buneary used a Pound attack that slammed her Rattata down to yellow health. She had to be at level three or more for that kind of power. However, I noticed there was a certain emotion to her attack that made it that much stronger. All the other Pound users quickly retreated to dodge the incoming attack, but she let her punches sink into the body and risked the revenge Tackle anyway. The tactic was both disarming and dangerous. Sure, it was effective, but it was overkill as well. Those Rattata weren't at very high levels; my lack of STAB didn't seem to matter when I dispatched that first one. Either way, with her enemy at a lower health than mine, I have to win the race.

"Oh, really?" she raised her eyebrow. "Strolling around on floor five? I'm not an idiot."

The sarcasm stung slightly, but my Quick Attack knocked my Rattata into red health and brought me back into first place. She quickly shut her mouth and began to focus on the battle once again. She focused and used one last Pound attack that hit the Rattata right under the chin, causing a critical hit and knocking it out in one last power-attack. I used one Quick Attack to finish the job, but my Rattata still had a sliver of health. I then dodged its Tackle and kicked it with my regular attack to do minimal damage and knock out the foe I should've finished off much earlier. We both gained our experience and I managed to finally move up to level five, the ideal level required to beat the first boss. I was level four the first time around, and that really costed me the Last Attack bonus when a Timburr beat me to it. At level five, I had enough strength to get whatever I need done.

I looked over at Buneary and saw she was smiling wickedly at me. I thought for a moment and then realized she was still gloating over beating that Rattata before I beat mine. Before I could counter with anything, she started talking.

"Mr. Stroll sure did dispatch that Rattata quite late. Maybe next time you should bring a party," she laughed.

My mouth hung open. I began to protest. "Party? I don't need a party! And it's not my fault I don't have a STAB move on me. I didn't program my moves or else I'd give myself Aura Sphere right now!"

She shook her head. "Whiney, aren't you? Yeah, you didn't look so confident in battle."

My face turned a fiery red. "Well you're on a suicide mission going along like that. You keep using Pound but if you see the foe has so little HP left, you can just do a regular attack!"

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't get the satisfaction of killing it like that," she said with less pride.

This time, I shook my head. "We have to save our power points—the little 'PP' thing by your moves list. If you lose all your PP for a move, it's gone. What other attacking moves do you have?" I asked.

"That's none of your business," she stammered.

"Aha!" I shouted in victory. "Now, shouldn't we be getting to those marble stairs?"

She nodded. We began walking and she fell to her knees and panted.

"I've been fighting for about four hours," she said. "I've barely had time to rest, and most of the time I'd had to run away. Th-thank you for helping me."

I sat down beside her and grabbed an Oran Berry from my bag. I gave it to her and she plopped it in her mouth. I noticed her HP bar went from just in the red all the way up to green in her main menu. Most of the time, I wouldn't watch like that, but I couldn't resist. I decided to initiate some conversation.

"It's not a problem. Why were you out here alone, Buneary?"

By referencing her name, she winced. "How did you…oh, because you can see—never mind. I guess I just wanted to make it as far as I could. It doesn't matter, though. You heard that big Pokémon—we're going to die in here. It's just a matter of time before we all learn where."

I was startled by the proposition. How could she just let herself tire out in the first dungeon and willingly risk her life without a care in the world? Did she not have a family to get back to?

"Don't look at it like that, Buneary," I smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. She moved away quickly, but she eventually let her guard down and put her face in her hands. I continued. "Think of it as a test of our survivability—our love for our lives. We have to fight for that back."

She shook her head. "I saw people die in this very room. Right by these stairs. This isn't a game we can play to win. This is just that guy's way of playing with dolls. We're the dolls, uh," she paused again with an unsure expression.

It suddenly hit me that she didn't know my name. I'm a Riolu, and so I'm called Riolu. Had she never played Pokémon? Is this her first VRMMO, or better yet—her first game?

"I'm Riolu," I told her.

"Riolu," she repeated. "Anyway, it doesn't matter how far we get if we aren't going to get far enough. This dungeon is hard and it's the _first one_. There are forty-nine dungeons more challenging than this one. One of my attacks is called Splash, and all I do is bounce around! How is that going to get me to the 50th dungeon, Riolu? Your optimism is too optimistic. Look at reality—the true reality. We're never getting home. We're going to battle until we die. In the end, we'll be either lifeless or soulless. Where will you be when death strikes?"

I looked at her seriously. "In my retirement home somewhere along a beach. In the real world. That's where I want to die. I don't want to die in a place where no one will know me, the true me."

She looked deep within the pupils of my eyes, and I felt my face change into a light red tint. I tried to hide it, but thinking even more caused the red to become more noticeable. I was about to turn away when

"Riolu!" a voice broke the conversation we had going.

I looked to see Buizel running from a Caterpie that was chasing him once again. I told Buneary to go up the ominous stairs and wait, but she joined me in running to my friend's rescue. We took either side of the Bug-type and began pounding it with attacks. The creature acted furious and was using attacks more vigorous than I had seen from any other Caterpie.

"Why is it so mad?" I asked.

Buizel shrugged and held a guilty look on his face. "It was asleep and, you see the tip of its tail? Yeah it's yellow…like a Sitrus Berry. I was hungry and, well…"

"Who is this guy?" Buneary questioned me.

"A friend," I said. "We were training on the other floor and he went to get items while I came up here."

She grinned. "I knew you weren't alone! What was it you said? 'I don't need a party!' or something?"

I get flustered and knocked the Caterpie out with a critical hit Quick Attack. It shattered into pieces and I caught the Pecha Berry it was holding. I put the berry in the bag and looked at my pal and the stranger I had met just minutes before.

"You don't need a party, huh?" Buizel smirked. He obviously understood what I was going for.

"Well, I wouldn't say that…" I began to backtrack.

"Oh, no, no! You weren't trying to impress the girl, were you?"

Both Buizel and Buneary started giggling as I started for the portal. I rolled my eyes and my shoulder slammed against my friend's. He winced in pain.

"No need to get feisty!" he said jokingly.

When we came up to the stairs, I ran perfectly up them. I wanted to take the credit so that my party could lead the boss raid whenever we get a team together. Therefore, it was no surprise that I hopped up to the next floor first and came across the small stone room that led to two giant doors made of wood. They went up seemingly forever. I walked to the middle of the room and tapped the small, dark stone that resembled a Kangaskhan and its baby. As the menu popped up, I heard Buneary and Buizel come up the stairs one by one. I put the Oran Berry in my storage box and closed the menu.

"What loot did you find?" I asked Buizel.

He checked his menu and looked at the cash amount. "I found a couple thousand Poké total and a few berries, but nothing much."

I shrugged. "Figured."

Suddenly, a light blue circle opened up to the right of the Kangaskhan rock. I slipped a foot in it and the menu asked if I wanted to return to Fountainhead City. I declined at first to talk to my friends a few more times.

"Well, looks like the portal's open now," I said with a smile.

Buizel nodded. "I'm going to go announce everything," he said.

My orange friend raised his eyebrows up at me before he slipped through the portal. I groaned internally, but I felt the blushing come back ever-so-slightly. I looked at Buneary, who seemed solemn for some reason, and so I felt concerned enough to ask her what sort of drama is going on.

"What's wrong?" I asked plainly.

She leaned against the wall and played with the cotton on her left ear. The Pokémon looked back at the blue escape portal and shrugged.

"I guess I didn't think I'd get this far," she said.

"I told you that we just have to work together. To be completely honest, I'm from the beta test. My party is experienced and we plan on leading all the raids together. We were the strongest fighters back when the unofficial, super-exclusive demo thing came out."

She smiled at my lack of terminology. "Well aren't you the superhero, then? To be honest, I'm not a video game player. This was my first time playing the Nintendo Vii and now I'm stuck in it and waiting to die. My body isn't even at my house—it's at a friend's house. She wanted me to try the game out for her and I told her I'd get off in five minutes. It's been a long time since then."

My smile faded. Her family didn't even know she was playing the game. I had missed my mother's birthday, yes, but at least she knew right away what had happened to me. I put a hand on Buneary's shoulder once more and, to my surprise, she didn't fight it.

"I'll tell you what: since you're such a good fighter, why don't you attend the meeting we're going to have to fight the boss? I could use you in the front lines. Your Pound attack is the strongest I've ever seen."

Her mood seemed to be brightened slightly by the ignorant politeness I provided, so she nodded her head after a few minutes. "I'll come."

"Great."

I walked into the blue portal, felt myself being transported, and silently made a fist in the air—a physical sign that I didn't completely fail at talking to a girl, and that I may have just scored another attacker in my desperate attempt to defeat the first dungeon's boss.

. . .

A raid party was supposed to be a max of 48 players; eight parties of six was the ideal setup. In the beta, we had no trouble rounding up so many players. Everyone wanted to show off their power. Now, though, where the game could connect a person to his death, this number would definitely be lower.

I had set the meeting to be in the square right in front of the fountain. Everyone else should already be there, but I decided to come a few minutes late in order to let them socialize and get comfortable. Supposedly, two other team leaders would be joining me in representing PMD:O's community. Whether or not they were useful, let alone beta testers, was unbeknownst to me. I ran to the center of Fountainhead City and sighed in relief upon seeing a decent amount of people.

I pushed my way toward the fountain and hopped up on the base's low rim. My tail was dipped in the water slightly, but the unsuspecting sensation was oddly appealing. I looked around and saw a Scyther, a green insect with sharp scythes for hands, and a metallic bird, obviously known as Skarmory, standing proudly above the others. These two were going to be rivalling guild leaders in the future, but I planned on making my own as well.

"Attention, everyone," I began, but Skarmory and Scyther glared at both me and each other.

"The Golden Warriors would like to take over this meeting," Scyther said calmly. "We are all levels two to four, and I'm a level five. So if you could just step back—"

"Oh really? Well the Flying Fighters all have a Ground-type immunity. Half your team," the bird Pokémon said with a glare toward the Pokémon backing the opposition, "is weak to it."

Scyther's face turned red. "Treecko here can take care of any pesky Sandshrew. I also have an immunity, by the way."

Skarmory squawked at the rebuttal. "Why don't we see how you did right now? Let's fight it out and get this over with!"

The two of them were ready to start a scene, yet violence was impossible in towns; they were considered safe zones. Instead, I hushed them both with a paw to the chest.

"I'm the one that completed the dungeon first," I snorted. "I'm in charge. If you have a problem, enjoy paying rent with fake money all your life."

Scyther frowned. "I'm behind on rent in my old house, anyway," he said.

"That's…nice? Anyway, the boss in this dungeon is a Dunsparce. I think he's around level seven. It'd be nice to level up to him, but it's impossible considering our limited resources. If you're level three and above, you should be able to attack him at least once. I know three attacks he had in the beta, but he did not have a fourth one. I believe he knew Headbutt, Screech, and Defense Curl. Headbutt can cause flinches, so be careful if you are hit. Dunsparce also has high stats at this range, so everything is dangerous. He's bigger than usual—every boss is way too big. It's to scare you. If we focus on letting our Rock- and Steel- types take the damage, then we can attack on our own effortlessly. Any questions?" I said quickly.

The whole room was silent. I was pleased to see Buneary in the very back of the crowd. My own party was up at the front, all smiles, listening to stuff they already knew. I knew I sounded boastful and annoying, but if it stopped the fighting, more opportunities would open to us. I looked around to see a bunch of individuals already set for the battle. As such, I ordered everyone to report at the gate to the dungeon and go through the blue portal, but stop in the in-between room of stone. We broke apart and everyone began marching in the right direction. Spectators began spreading the world that the first boss was going to be attacked. I smiled at their gossip.

I let Buizel go up to the front and speak with his sister. I knew he was worried about her performance and survivability, and probably would rather her stay in the hotel, but she insisted on taking part. Whismur was kindhearted, and that was probably her strongest quality. I knew she couldn't fight forever, that she would eventually have to live in the cities and wait, but I figured that she could hang around us for now. Watching my orange friend converse with the barely-teenager made me remember my own little sister. How was she doing right now?

"Riolu?" a voice interrupted my train of thought.

"Huh?"

I looked to see a grinning Chimchar hastening his pace to catch up to me. He had behind him two other starter Pokémon, a Chikorita and a Squirtle, which were presumably the newest additions to his party. He introduced me to them and them to me, and we greeted each other fairly. I felt superior to everyone; I had the strongest team, I had this virtual reality at my fingertips. I had the strength.

Suddenly, that whole feeling felt shameful when my eyes laid back on Buneary. She was hopping by herself somewhat off to the side of the cluster of individuals. I slowly made my way over to her and matched her pace.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

She looked away. "I didn't know you were a leader type."

I blushed. "I'm normally not. In fact, I don't even _like_ the power," I said in a lie.

Buneary rolled her eyes. "You looked pretty happy up there telling us all what to do."

Her statement made me stop in my tracks while the others kept walking. She kept hopping. I stayed in my place. What do I want to do? Please a random girl and make some sort of friendship that could die at any minute? Or do I want to lead the 300 something of us to a safe and secure escape from the game? To be honest, I didn't really know. I didn't speak again until everyone was in the stone chamber before the very first dungeon boss.

. . .

In front of a crowd of 24, exactly one-half the usual number for a boss raid, I did a head count. I told the two guilds-to-be what their functions were and informed Chimchar he was backup behind my party. I turned around to face the endlessly tall wooden doors of the first boss. The wood was an ominous color, a darker look than I remembered before. The aesthetics of the game were tweaked, but were the bosses themselves? I frowned at my waiting upon hearing impatient people whispering. I turned back around.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked.

Everyone was silent. No one wanted to step up and start the trend of courage. I looked pleadingly at my friends, then Chimchar, and then Buneary. Sadly, no one was ready. I could understand that. Sure, it was terrifying to face a boss, but if we don't—we're stuck in here forever.

"Guys," I eventual sighed. "If we don't get past this boss…If we don't win tonight, then no one will ever attempt this boss again. We'll live on the first floor forever. We're some of the strongest fighters in the game, both in spirit and ability. It's time we step up. It's been two weeks. We've had our time to feel trapped—now it's time to get free."

"I'm ready," Buizel finally said, stepping forward beside me.

"Me, too," Fletchling squawked.

"Let's do this," Budew nodded.

"I'll block any hit for you, Riolu," Shieldon smiled.

Whismur slowly stepped with the rest of my party. "I'll go anywhere with you, big brother," she said to Buizel. He blushed slightly at the family embarrassment, but he hugged her for her bravery.

"Then let's go," a voice from the back of the crowd shouted. The tone was feminine, however her attitude was pure masculinity. There weren't many females in this raid, but my mysterious acquaintance Buneary was already growing from the suicidal girl I knew just a day or two ago.

"You heard the woman," I said playfully. "Let's go!"

I pushed the wooden doors open. They creaked for several seconds, seconds of terrifying tension raised into an anticlimactic shudder once the doors ceased their noise. I looked back at the raid, turned my attention toward the black interior of the room, and stepped inside the familiar room from back in my beta testing days.

Once I ran inside, torches along the wall began to light up one by one on either symmetrical side of me. Eventually, they met in a ring of fire along the walls of the boss room. At the end of the room was a large hole. I slowly began stepping toward it, each step panging my head with risk and worry. Once I looked inside the hole, I quickly sprinted back toward the others. The boss was coming out of the hole.

The yellow-bodied organism sprang out of the hole and slammed onto the ground. Its eyes were shut and encircled in blue rings. It had small wings and blue stripes on the white part of its back. The creature's tail looked like a rattlesnake's, yet it was also shaped like a drill. Dunsparce was the first boss's name, and it wasn't too much of a challenge in the beta—though it did take us a try or two. We only have one try now.

"Alright, everyone! Battle stations!" I commanded, my fists flying in the air.

As Dunsparce began to make its first attack, Scyther and Skarmory started to fight about sides. I groaned at their idiocy and decided to take matters into my own hands once more.

"Well I think this is the left he was talking about!" Scyther yelled.

"Please! That's the _wrong_ left, Scyther. It's all about perspective," Skarmory hissed back.

Meanwhile, I began sprinting toward the creature. Everyone watched and, soon enough, Buizel came up behind me with his attack ready. I jumped at the Dunsparce and used a Quick Attack, knocking a sliver of its health down. Buizel unleashed a Sonic Boom that took a larger chunk out. The two of us immediately retreated as Fletchling tackled and Whismur used Pound. They knock down a little bit more health, but the beast had decent defenses at this point in the game and a large HP stat overall.

Once Whismur's Pound ended, Buneary's began. She slammed her fist into the Pokémon and made it bounce back a little in the opposite direction. However, the Dunsparce began sucking its breath in after Whismur, so Buneary was in the way of his first attack: Screech.

The sound pierced everyone's ears, but Buizel, Fletchling, Whismur and I managed to dodge. Everyone else was hit except for Scyther, Treecko, and Houndour, who had just narrowly avoided the defense-lowering attack. Rings of sound waves crashed into the more defensive Pokémon, along with those like Farfetch'd and Flabébé that were just in the back.

I sprinted to the wall, ran up a long distance of the vertical plane, and kicked back. Behind me, a white flash of speed trailed. I used another Quick Attack on Dunsparce right when Buizel used his egg move Slash. He sliced at the Pokémon, and the attack did about double what mine did. Of course, his base power was much higher, but I still felt kind of underpowered. Fletchling flapped its wings to kick up a Tailwind while Scyther zoomed by both me and Buizel to hit Dunsparce with a super effective Vacuum Wave. The fact that he already had a fighting-type move and I didn't was completely embarrassing, but I couldn't change the game mechanics.

"Get ready for its attack!" I screamed.

Dunsparce suddenly charged in Scyther's direction. The Headbutt attack slammed the future guild leader straight into the wall, knocking his HP bar down to about half. Treecko attempted to use a Pound attack, but Headbutt hit first and he took about 85% damage. Houndour used Ember to try and burn the Dunsparce, but there was not a side effect and Houndour, whose defenses were poor, was left with only a sliver of health after the Headbutt attack. Geodude defended the other Pokémon on Scyther's side, but he flinched from the attack and could not rebuttal. Some of the lesser-known members of Scyther's and Skarmory's team moved Houndour and Treecko to the back. Offensive powerhouses like Houndoom and Sceptile would be great toward the end of the game, but attacks can hit hard and they need to remember that.

Dunsparce suddenly curled up into a Defense Curl move, raising its defense. Sadly, it happened right as I attempted to strike it with another Quick Attack, so my attack bounced off and I landed feet-first on the wall. I kicked forward and skidded to a halt back in front of my party. While I caught my breath, Fletchling and Buizel began attacking again. I put a hand against the wall and rubbed my knee. All this bending was starting to hurt. Buneary, however, was still pounding away at the creature, though her attacks were not doing much. We needed special attacks now.

While Dunsparce was still curled up, Scyther seemed to read my mind and go in for another Vacuum Wave. Skarmory finally became useful and started pecking at the creature. He commanded Pidgey, Starly, and Hoothoot to tackle and Taillow and Farfetch'd to help use Peck.

Dunsparce suddenly opened its eyes. I recognized the behavior…but not from the boss battle in the beta. I saw a Miltank use it on one of the dungeon floors. Dunsparce shouldn't have Rollout—it didn't before. Did the creators change it? Either way, all the bird Pokémon were flying above it in safety. Scyther was the only one in real danger. I had to warn him somehow.

"Scyther!" I shouted. "It's going to attack you!"

The Pokémon kept attacking. "You just want the LA, Riolu!" he shouted back.

I paused. LA meant Last Attack bonus, the item you get if you were the last attacker. I got most of them in the beta because I was selfish, but now I just want the thing beaten. Is Scyther really as selfish as I was—in this predicament? Perhaps he was a beta tester, too. How else would he know that I liked getting the bonus more than anyone?

"Scyther!" I screamed.

Dunsparce slowly started rolling. Scyther realized his mistake and began backing up. He hastened his pace just as Dunsparce did. Scyther was four times as weak to Rock-types as the regular Pokémon. He was eight times weaker than I was to it type-wise. I sighed and started running in between the insect and his rolling death. Once I stopped in between them, Scyther fell over. He screamed in distress and I held my hands out in despair. The Rollout attack knocked a small chunk of my health off and I slowly pushed him back the other way. Scyther stayed lying on the ground, breathless, and looked at me.

"You saved my life," he whimpered.

"I did," I said.

"I'm so sorry I didn't listen to you."

I turned around to see Buizel and Fletchling take a Rollout attack as well. This one was stronger, as per the game mechanics. Fletchling was taken back to recover up, but Buizel was fine. He and I began running in the same direction and met on the other side of the Dunsparce. We were both panting and sweating. He smiled at the hard effort and put his hands on his knees.

"It's harder than I remember," he said.

"And less predictable than I expected," I nodded.

Shieldon slams his shield-skull against the rolling Dunsparce and knocks it in another direction. Skarmory then gets hit by an even stronger one, causing sufficient damage. I suddenly realized that we cannot rely on the defensive Pokémon for this attack. I ran to the middle of the room and waited for the rolling Dunsparce to come my way.

"We have to make him miss, not deflect his attacks!" I yelled.

Once the Pokémon came at me, I dodged at the last second. He suddenly uncoiled from his position and laid on the ground regularly again. I breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at my successful plan. However, he quickly recovered and tried to use Headbutt on Shieldon and Budew. Shieldon absorbed the hit but was knocked back in a flinching state. Budew, her green, flowery skin pale with fear, revealed her egg move. A large stream of leaves began swarming the Dunsparce's eyes, cutting and slicing damage from its HP bar. The color of his HP goes from barely green to a pus-colored yellow. Budew's special attack stat fell tremendously and she frowned at her one-time use of Leaf Storm.

I remembered my egg move and quickly opened the menu. How had I not used it yet? When I looked at my move set, I sort of frowned. Bullet Punch? It was just a Quick Attack that wouldn't help me. I'd get rid of it when the time came, I supposed. Anyway, I used my usual priority move and scored a critical hit after hitting it in the eye socket. The boss's HP bar fell halfway into the yellow now. Buizel used Slash once more, but the foe's HP barely moved lower. The defense buff from before was still in effect. My critical hit was just a lucky chance.

I ate an Oran Berry to recover HP from that Rollout attack while the others kept battling. Buneary used a Pound attack that missed Dunsparce and slammed into Buizel, who was knocked unconscious by accident. She fell beside him, both hurt from the fall, and Dunsparce used a Screech attack that halved their defenses and threw them against one of the dungeon walls. They took damage upon impact and slumped together at the edge of the floor. I ran to them while Scyther used another Vacuum Wave attack. He, too, scored a critical hit. The HP bar was now in the red.

While I helped Buneary and the recovering Buizel up, Houndour and Treecko began attacking again. The birds were pecking and tackling and Whismur and Fletchling joined them. Skarmory, however, was busy tending to his wounds from earlier. There was little-to-no cooperation between any of them.

Buneary, Buizel, and I quickly got back in the game. The birds and Scyther were all hit by an incoming Headbutt, knocking all of them into shades of yellow and red. Dunsparce began charging everyone else, knocking Pokémon too close to the 0 HP area. It could force a retreat, but that wasn't an option when half the Pokémon that were attacked were thrown at the opposite end of the room. Not all of us would come back alive. I had full health, but I was the only one—and I had used a berry.

Budew, who had too low offense to attack now, was forced to move the hurt birds out of harm's way. Shieldon attempted a Tackle attack or two, but they were so weak there was no point. Buneary and Buizel began using Pound and Slash repeatedly, and I used a Quick Attack to further deplete the Dunsparce's HP stat.

However, with its HP in the red, the Pokémon was only going to use Headbutt now. Getting too close meant being in range. Buizel had somehow forgotten this from the beta and Buneary didn't know in the first place. My Quick Attack gave me enough time to retreat due to its range, but their attacks didn't have that luxury. They were forced to run away from the charging snake. Neither of them recovered to full health, either. One Headbutt could take them out. As a result, I began sprinting their direction.

The two of them began running faster. Buizel lost his footing, but he fell far enough to the left that Dunsparce would miss him. I kept running to Buneary while the other teams just watched. She was still a decent distance away, but one wrong move and she'd be killed.

The wrong move happened. A small rock peeked out of the flat flooring and Buneary inevitably tripped over it while preparing for her large hop out of the way. She fell over in pain as I was coming near. I knew the Headbutt couldn't OHKO me, so I came and used Quick Attack on her to knock her out of the way. Her HP bar was left in the low yellow zone, but I was satisfied seeing her still alive. Right after looking at her health bar, I was knocked into the wall by a forceful head slam. My own HP fell nearly 70%. I was at level five, but that wasn't good enough. As Dunsparce reared back for one final attack at me, I used Quick Attack on its forehead to knock it back and ruin its momentum. When I landed, I fell to my knees and began heaving from exhaustion. Even though I hit Dunsparce, I had only stalled the inevitable. I was surrounded by its large body. I wouldn't be able to escape in time. Its Headbutt's range was too large for me to avoid. Everyone watched as the Dunsparce came right at me. There was only one move that could save me, and the programmers luckily made it one of my basic moves to use.

The Headbutt had slammed into my body without a doubt. I felt the pain drain every inch of health I had left. Everyone gasped and I heard a few screams, no doubt from my party members. One of them sounded foreign from my party, though; it was Buneary's. Hearing her concern was beautiful in my ears. It was almost like a warm feeling spread through my body. The impact of the Headbutt attack was stronger than the last; no doubt it would have killed me.

I overcame the hit with my Endure move. I braced myself for impact and created a shield strong enough to keep me with 1 HP. The move caused Dunsparce some recoil distance, making him fall back some, and I used that opportunity to hit it between the eyes with a critical hit Quick Attack. The Dunsparce groaned in agony and exploded into a million shards of glass. The shards dissipated in the air and I was left falling on my knees. I had 1 HP left. One hit and I'm dead. I felt of my head and groaned. My head slammed against the ground and I just felt like resting.

Someone slipped an Oran Berry into my mouth. I didn't want to eat it; I wanted to sleep. Sleep was mainly just for comfort, but since our bodies couldn't escape this world, I'd like to think that sleep helped maintain sanity. I'd had dreams of my regular life before, dreams that influenced my need to come home. Those dreams kept me sane. Buizel had Whismur to keep him going. The strange Buneary was willing to risk everything, even if the job was a suicide mission. Me? I just want to get home. However, the healing powers of the Oran Berry alerted me of this reality once more.

"Rio?" Buizel said desperately. "Riolu?"

My vision cleared to see Buizel and Buneary hovering over me.

"Riolu, you stupid idiot," the girl said with a smile. "What the heck were you thinking?"

I couldn't say anything. I looked at them and started coughing repeatedly. I sat up and leaned against one of the boss room walls in an effort to regain myself. Above my head, I read these words produced by the game system:

"Congratulations! You have received the Last Attack Bonus. Check your inventory for your special item."

I smiled. I got the LA. Looking back at my raid team, they all knew I did, too.

"Come on, let's go up the stairs to the second floor portal and open it up," Buneary insisted.

I looked around for the stairs she meant. These stairs weren't small and hard-to-find like in the actual mystery dungeons. These stairs were large and proud. You only climbed up them when you were victorious.

"Come with me?" I asked her.

She blushed. "Okay."

As the two of us walked up the steps, Buizel nodded; he understand the bro code. He'd stay behind this time so I could talk to Buneary, but he made a teasing face that turned my blue face completely red.

"So," she said awkwardly as we got to the base of the steps.

They were just as marble as the dungeon steps, but they were much wider and grander. The slightly different patterns in each step made an appreciative uniqueness that felt so real. We climbed up the first step and began jogging up the flight of stairs. I looked back down to see everyone going to the portal to tell the city about our success. I smiled.

"So, I'm taking it your ability is Klutz?"

Buneary stopped climbing, turned around, and slapped my cheek so hard I fell down several stairs and landed on my back. I got up and rubbed my face. She was smiling, but she was intimidating at the same time. I grinned back at her and we continued back up to the second floor.

"No, it's Limber. And that stone was just in the way," she said.

"As was Buizel when you knocked him out cold?"

That remark earned another glare. "You're lucky you saved my butt, or else I'd kick yours all the way back down to floor one."

We made it to the last step and came to a green portal. I touched it and a small screen popped up asking if I wanted to go to the second floor. I selected the "yes" option and felt myself being beamed up to a different floor, a different setting, a different feeling—a feeling of success.


	3. Chapter 3 - Whismur's Quest

September 3rd, 2025

Floor 5

After just defeating three more floors, one including a boss Ariados, the creepiest yet, in less than three weeks, we all decided a break was needed. We've been trapped in this game for a month and have only completed eight percent of the dungeons required. The fifth floor was obviously no slouch, however I remembered from the beta that its boss was significantly stronger than the Ariados from before. That was the common pattern; every fifth boss was a leap in power. That Dunsparce was not easy when I was at level five, but now I was level thirteen despite the rising experience requirements toward leveling. Luckily, that meant the bosses I was familiar with wouldn't be much different from the beta—the bosses before the tenth floor, at least.

Though we were taking a "break," I had the nifty idea to complete some quests so my party, my guild-to-be, would be stronger in future floors. In the last one, Fletchling almost suffocated to death from the sticky webs. Therefore, we recently got him the Sharp Beak item through a Flying-type-centered quest. Quests were basically mini storylines; in later floors, I'd be forced to do certain quests in order to get items like Power Bands and aura-centric bows. Quests could revolve around speaking to people in town, learning new techniques, or venturing into dungeons to save someone, fight someone, or get something.

Since I volunteered to go last and Buizel lost the coin toss, it was Whismur's turn to choose a quest. Since we were already familiar with everything available, I wasn't surprised when she asked to complete the "Plain Love" story. It was the first of a series of love-based rescue stories. This time, the NPC characters were Milktank and Tauros.

The only catch to some quests was a limit to the participants; while a party could have six people, a quest like Whismur's required three and an accompanied NPC. Everyone knew Buizel wanted to go, so I also volunteered while Budew offered to buy supplies and Shieldon looked for a cheap place to rent.

The fifth floor town was called the Grasslands. The terrain was completely flat and vivid green. Farmhouses were the norm in the town; Moomoo Milk was a popular beverage when a person's not in battle. Instead of drinking regular water, a Pokémon could just grab a Moomoo Milk and chug the whole thing.

It was obviously not a surprise to learn that the quest still started in a farmhouse. We entered the Miltank Manner, a red barn that, like many others, produced Moomoo Milk for a cheap price. When we entered the barn and stepped into the hay-covered floor, Whismur spotted the yellow question mark that signified a quest's beginning. When she went up to talk to the Miltank, the question mark disappeared.

"Hello," the Whisper Pokémon said.

"Hi, are you here for milk…?" the NPC asked.

"No, I saw that you needed help."

"Yes, I do!" the pink cow nodded excitedly. "My love went out for some berries and I just got a message saying he is stuck on the sixth floor of this dungeon. Can you help me?"

Buizel and I saw the question mark return to the Miltank's head.

"Yes," Whismur agreed.

The question mark turned into an exclamation point—a sign that she was waiting on us to go into the dungeon.

"Great!" the response-generated voice said. "I'll join the three of you in the dungeon the next time you enter it."

Whismur turned around, her lavender skin brightened with excitement, and hugged her older brother. I smiled at the sibling bond they had going on; I missed my own sister, whose annoying bathroom-hogging always divided a wedge between us on Sunday mornings.

"We better get going, then," I said suddenly.

The two of them nodded and Whismur led the way to the portal we needed to enter. She jumped in first, then Buizel, and then finally myself. Before I hopped in, though, I felt a tingling like someone was watching me. I dismissed the idea; it had to have been the ominous portal's energetic effect. Either way, the feeling disappeared when we entered the dungeon.

I turned around to see the NPC Miltank smiling behind me. I leapt backward, startled, ran into Buizel. Buizel fell over and rolled in the dirt for a minute. Whismur laughed weakly and looked over at the yellow-cursored character.

"Let's save Tauros!" the cow cheered.

"From what?" I asked.

Her expression did not change, though her voice was programmed to sound upset. "I'm afraid Tauros was cornered by an angry Fearow. Come, let's save him before it's too late!"

We turned around in the large, rectangular room and headed toward one of the not-outlined sections of the perimeter. Only in those places would hallways spawn. We ran through and I quickly dispatched a Zigzagoon that came up behind Miltank. Just like in the past games, if an enemy killed the Pokémon you have to accompany and you could not save it, then the quest would fail.

The ground was warm and grassy. The flat plains offered several Normal- and Grass-types that roamed wild, but there were a few other Pokémon, too. Spearow were feared in this dungeon because the higher-leveled ones had Fury Attack. However, none of them were huge threats. Once we finally made it to floor five, we helped Whismur achieve level nine. Buizel was already at 12 and I had just one level over him, so strengthening his sister was the least we could have done. Her Uproar attack was also pretty strong, so she could overtake Fletchling one day as our backup attacker…one day.

"Stay here," I told all three of them as I ventured one of the spiral-shaped paths.

These were notorious for being dead-ends, but sometimes they just so happened to be the only tickets to the stairs. I moved back and forth between sharp turns and eventually came into another room. I couldn't see my friends anymore, but I luckily found the last set of stairs. I ran back out the spiral and came into the room where everyone was at again.

I came back to see Buizel already halfway to me. Whismur and Miltank were alone. I scolded him for leaving them there, and he realized his error right away, but we turned to see Whismur and Miltank facing a wild Spearow. Its Fury Attack could probably two-hit Whismur without much trouble, and Miltank was programmed to be at level eight—a level that wouldn't last long on the defensive side. My Quick Attack was out of range, so our quest was doomed to fail.

"Whismur, get out of there!" Buizel yelled as he ran towards his sister.

Whismur backed up slowly, Miltank behind her, and waited for the Spearow to charge. When it went in for a Peck attack, Whismur used Pound and slapped it to the ground. Another Pound brought it to low enough health that, thanks to my speed, I was able to knock it out with my priority, high-range Quick Attack. The Spearow shattered into glass and Whismur screamed in terror after surviving her first taste of being alone.

"Jay, why did you leave me? That was scary!" she shouted at her brother. His real name was Jason, but that's all I knew; we never really discussed real life stuff since we met through the game and really only focused on it. Hearing her say it out loud felt more personal and endearing than I ever could have imagined.

Buizel's eyes began to glisten with the beginning of tears. "I-I was just checking on Riolu. He was in that trap for a long time. We've fainted from multiple Pokémon coming back-to-back-to-back. I didn't see anything in the room…it must've been waiting until I moved to come in. I'm-I'm so sorry, Ellie. I'm so sorry."

The two embraced, tears streaming down their faces. I felt awkward, so I ushered Miltank towards the spiral-shaped path and we ran through it without any problems. I waited for the siblings to come back so we could all go up the stairs. I went first, then Miltank, Whismur, and finally Buizel. Once we got up to the last floor, I sensed tension in the air. Something was off about the building, but I couldn't tell which. It was like I had a sense that just wasn't strong enough to set off any real alarms.

"I see them already," Miltank said automatically.

I looked the direction she was pointing. Sure enough, there was a bull Pokémon being chased by an angry bird. The four of us ran over to where Tauros was and I tell Whismur to protect Miltank and her boyfriend. This time, she was close by, so there wasn't any real danger if we could see the enemy first. Buizel understood this.

The two of us began slamming the Fearow with Quick Attacks and Slashes. I reminded myself that, in just a couple levels, I'd finally have Force Palm. Once I got my STAB move, I'd be golden. While we attacked and dodged, Buizel used a newly-acquired Growl attack (which, admittedly, sounded pathetic) to lower Fearow's attack slightly.

Meanwhile, Whismur witnessed the reunion of Miltank and Tauros. The two smiled at each other and embraced. It was sort of awkward since the male was a quadruped and Miltank walked, but it was a sort of innocent love. Whismur turned her attention to watching us attack the Fearow, but she immediately turned her head behind her. Someone was watching from the hallway leading into the room. It couldn't have been an enemy; it would have come out by now. There was someone there. Whismur ditched the loving couple and quickly began running into the room that our stalker was waiting in. Before we both defeated Fearow, Buizel ditched me as well. I was stuck with a Pokémon who had a type advantage against me.

"Raaah!" the Fearow squawked.

It quickly used a Pluck attack on me and cost me over half my health. Luckily, that Growl attack kept its power at bay. The move did, however, cost us a Pecha Berry as the bird ate it and wasted the item. I used this opportunity to demonstrate my new Counter attack and knocked the Flying-type Pokémon out, causing it to burst into shards and dissipate into the air. I turned around to see my two partners gone.

. . .

Whismur ran into the next room and stopped right at its entrance. She needed to catch her breath. She leaned against the wall and relaxed until she heard a familiar sound. The music changed from an eerie, suspenseful background song to an alarming display of emotion. She knew what it meant—she was trapped in a Monster House.

Suddenly, eight different Spearow and brown-and-white Zigzagoon warped around her. They were all spawned enemies. She screamed for her brother, but he hadn't arrived yet. She used Pound on one of the Pokémon, but its HP bar stopped—and it was still in the green. She wasn't strong enough.

Just as quick, however, Buizel jumped in and joined her against the party of decently-leveled Pokémon. He quickly used Sonic Boom to do strong damage against one of the Spearow, but those Fury Attacks were scary at this level. He dodged one and took three attacks from another Spearow, bringing his health down a decent chunk. Whismur knocked out the one he used Sonic Boom on, but another took its place. They began to scream in panic. Someone wasn't making it out alive.

. . .

"We appreciate your party helping us on the endeavor," Miltank smiled.

"It was no problem," I chirped. "Everything ended up okay."

The two lovers looked at each other and Tauros huffed through its nose.

"I guess we should get back home. Do you want to teleport with us?"

I thought for a moment before answering, thought about where the others might be, and began my reply.

. . .

Buizel and Whismur were now back to back. They have knocked out three of the eight Pokémon, but two more have walked in upon hearing the commotion. Both siblings had slightly less than half their HP left, and, at this point, Escape Orbs weren't available yet. They would have to rely on Riolu to bring them to safety. What if he wanted to explore more? What if he wanted to backtrack on his own and get more experience? Buizel screamed internally at the idea, but he kept calm for his little sister.

"We're getting you that quest reward," he said, his back against hers.

"Well it's either that or die," Whismur frowned.

"Don't say that!" he screamed.

Buizel used Slash to destroy a Zigzagoon and took a critical hit Peck attack to defend Whismur. He Slashed the Spearow into computer-generated shards. Their future seemed bleak. How would they escape this world now? How would anyone? What would their parents think if they both died at the same time?

. . .

"Yeah, sure, we'd love to go back with you," I finally said. I had thought about going back on our own. After all, the extra experience would have helped Whismur with her leveling problem. However, they'd probably want to return back as soon as possible.

"Okay, let's go," Miltank cheered.

She and Tauros suddenly were beamed by a blue portal. I waited patiently and found myself inside one. Buizel and Whismur still weren't back, but that wouldn't be a problem since they just have to be anywhere on the floor. I just hoped they were okay, but why wouldn't they be? Buizel probably just went after some experience like I always did. It'd be no big deal.

. . .

"This is it!" Buizel groaned.

Two Spearow were about to use Fury Attack on both of them. It was terrible; Buizel and Whismur were in the center of two angry Spearow. Their attacks would have surely knocked Whismur out, at least, but even just three hits would have been enough to defeat Buizel. His stats weren't very defensively-oriented. What stats he did excel in apparently weren't enough.

The birds charged, peaks pointed out, and began trying to peck them ferociously. Buizel took one hit, then another, and then a miss. The attacks left him with very low health. He looked at Whismur and noticed that she was gone—all that was left was a blue beam of light. He sighed happily and felt the next blue beam teleport him away from the dungeon, away from the Monster House, and back into the safety of the no-PVP town.

. . .

"What took you so long?!" Buizel asked me with a hard punch in the shoulder.

It was a playful, yet still angry, punch, but I smiled it off and pretended it didn't hurt. I explained how I couldn't interrupt Miltank while she was talking, and also that they had both ditched me without telling me what they were doing. For all I knew, they were trying to level up some more.

"Buizel, he saved us. He made the right choice," Whismur coaxed him.

"I know, but dang!" Buizel thrusted about in agony. "I almost died—you almost died! How would I explain that to Mom?"

The two of them hugged in sorrow and thanked me for saving them once more. We then paid attention to Miltank and Tauros, who were waiting with the bold exclamation points once more. We made contact with them and Whismur received the TM Attract as a reward. Attract had its benefits, causing Pokémon to often fail in attacking, but they had to be of the opposite gender. It was risky in its own right.

Whismur took the CD-like item and looked back at me. "Thank you," she said, seriousness in her eyes.

I felt odd by her sincerity. If she wanted it that bad, I could have just gotten it by myself with much less trouble with those Monster Houses and criminals. However, I rubbed my hand over her small, fragile head and expressed my gratitude just for helping her. She taught herself the move and let me put the disc in my bag for safe keeping.

"Now to test the move out some!" she giggled with a glance back towards me.

Buizel saw her look and started shaking his head ferociously. "No, no, no, no!" he shouted, pushing me out of the barn.

"But Jay—"

"No, no, no, no!" he repeated.

I couldn't help but laugh. His sister was cute in a little sister sort of way. Whether or not she was hinting towards more than just bothering her brother, the gesture was still funny to the both of us. Buizel, however, glared at me slightly on our way back home.

When I had messaged Shieldon about finishing the quest, he gave us the location of our new temporary home. Eventually, we'd have to establish a place for our party/guild to have a base, but we weren't getting the guild together until the tenth floor. On floor ten, I'd finally be able to ask Buneary to join us. I could ask Chimchar, too, and his other friends that joined his party. I'm sure they'd love to be incorporated. We would be one big happy family.

The three of us walked through the fading light of the sun and witnessed the lamps begin to turn on. The green city of the Grasslands was not very memorable, but maybe, to little Whismur, this particular quest would be.

. . .

That night was pretty fun. The six of us reconciled and enjoyed a meal of applesauce and Moomoo Milk from the Miltank's farms. As we all passed around stories of our journeys throughout the day, Budew came first.

"So, what was the shopping like?" I asked politely, though I mainly only cared about the _price_.

Budew seemed chipper. "I got these apples on sale and bought some berries and seeds, too. Still no Reviver Seeds, but I did find a bunch of Blast Seeds. Everyone bought out all the Heal Seeds and Oran Berries, though. I couldn't get any of those. I did fight with a Maractus over some Pecha Berries, but the store clerk asked us to leave." She shrugged. "Oh well. What about you, Shieldon?"

Shieldon flinched at everyone looking his way. "I got this place super cheap," he said, looking around. The interior was wooden completely, though paintings, rugs, and furniture added some flavor. "After that, I started headbutting trees for a while. It felt good on my shield to attack something. Can I go on the next quest? I want to try out my Metal Sound attack I just learned!"

I nodded. "Everyone's going on the next few. Buizel wants to get a Sitrus Berry to up his HP and after that, around Floor 9, I want to get this item that I nabbed in the beta before it closed."

Fletchling looked uncomfortable and frowned. His feathers were cleaned and shiny, almost as if he had bathed all day. He looked around with guilt and admitted his actions for the day. When he talked, his mouth opened farther than he needed to and he acted overly dramatic.

"Okay, guys. I didn't do anything today. So what? I took a shower that I earned and slept while I could." He paused.

"So you were lazy?" Buizel smirked.

"No! You don't appreciate me enough; none of you do! In fact, when I went to stretch my wings today, Skarmory—yes, the future guild leader—asked me if I'd like to join the Flying Fighters."

We all gasped. I had never thought about us _not_ being all together. Sure, Fletchling was annoying and whiney, but he was there with us from the beginning. Would he really leave us for another guild? I had to speak up. I shifted uncomfortably in my regular chair of wood and cleared my throat.

"You, uh, said no, didn't you?"

Fletchling looked down at the table. "Of course I did. I told him I'm already with you and didn't see myself anywhere else."

I sighed in relief. We continued eating the applesauce, scraping the plates with our spoons. After a long pause, Buizel looked up after achieving some sort of progress in thought. He looked over to his sister and started talking, pieces of food flying from his mouth.

"Why did you run off like that earlier?"

Whismur put her spoon on her plate and looked between both him and me. We turned to face each other and looked back at Buizel's sister. There was obviously something she hadn't told us.

"Okay, I admit it: I thought someone was following us. I could see a figure in the shadows. I had felt like that the whole time, but I knew someone was hiding. I could almost see a smiling face in the darkness."

I stood up from the table and slammed my hands on its cheap wooden top. "What Pokémon was it?" I shouted.

She looked scared once I had lost my temper, but she wasn't the only one. Buizel, Fletchling, Shieldon, and Budew were staring at me as if I'd lost myself. Sure, I overreacted, but based on the shenanigans I faced in the beta, it's dangerous if people are playing those things now. It could lead to serious death.

"I don't know!" she squealed.

Upon realizing everyone was against my attitude, I excused myself from the table and brought out my menu. I typed in some letters to form a message and sent it. I quickly opened the door and threw myself outside. I shut the door loudly, causing everyone to jump.

"What's his problem?" Fletchling spat, but everyone else shrugged.

"He's emotional, let it go," Buizel said with a snort of laughter. "He's just in his Riolu mood."

. . .

I knew the others dismissed Whismur's feeling, but I had felt an odd sensation just on the first floor. Had someone already achieved the Sneaky Team Skill? If that were to be true, then this game just became a lot more lethal.

Outside, the air was bitter and stung my cheeks as I waited for my friend to arrive. The wind chill reminded me nothing of home; I lived in California. However, it did remind me of my humanity. I was still imperfect in this world, just like in the real one. I just had to be smart about who I showed my imperfections to…if I let the wrong person know my weaknesses, then it's over.

I heard the sound of hastened running and new Torchic was on her way. Speed Boost was her method of travel. Her information selling was so profitable that she needed to run away from curious, yet cheap, individuals—especially the shady kind. I'd seen her a few times since that first night, but never in a case like this one. Once she made her chick outline known, I stepped down onto the ground to let her know that I knew she was around.

"Torchic," I whispered.

"Riolu," she reflected back.

"I have a couple questions to ask you," I said.

She smiled. "Ask me and I'll tell you the cash required."

I gritted my teeth. She hadn't changed a bit.

"Is someone wanting information on me? My attack patterns? Friends? Learnset?"

Torchic's cheesy face turned solemn. "I'll tell you that one on the house: yes. You'll have to pay the pretty penny if you want to know who."

"I'll pay you a thousand," I groaned and got my menu out.

"That'll cover it!" she sang.

"That'll cover it," I grumbled.

Once the transaction was complete, she beamed in satisfaction. "Sableye was asking about your whereabouts and information. He was very discreet and asked me earnestly to not tell you he asked, but he knows I'll sell almost anything."

My face drained of color. Sableye was one of the bad guys from the beta that killed people as a hitman…especially Fighting-types. He used to use his Ghost typing to his advantage in the shadiest way possible, and if he was trying to do the same now…

"What about Team Skills? When did those become available?"

She smiled. "Everyone knows they were released on this floor—all the gummis are gone and Treasure Chests are the most sought-after items on the market. I just so happen to have an Orange Gummi with me right now for when I evolve, but if you'd like it, I can always buy another tomorrow with the money you just gave me."

I thanked her for the item and took the gummi in my paws. It was a deep orange, perfectly suitable for the Fighting-type name. I ate the gummi in one bite and saw my IQ points grow. The way IQ points worked in this game was that they were boosted by two methods: eating gummis and random treasure chests. Gummis were the hardest, yet most reliable, method, while treasure chests were sporadic but gave decent boosts.

Certain increments in numbers indicated a separate "level-up" system, but of five random team skills. These skills could be added to the team to help out, but they were especially for the individual. Last time, I had an item detection skill that let me really stock up on everything on each floor. After just one gummi, I saw the "congratulations!" window pop up. Under it, the dialogue said I was awarded the "Intimidation" skill, which made some foes flinch upon first interaction. The skill was pretty popular back in beta, so hopefully it'll come to use now.

"Thanks," I said.

Torchic nodded and turned to leave. "Just be careful out there, Riolu. I can't break my information selling pact, but I don't want you to end up dead. Don't let that Sableye get to you; I'm sure it's not as bad as you're making it."

While Torchic left, the only thing I could think about were those menacing diamond eyes and that evil, elongated smile of pure white death. The terrorizer of beta testers, Sableye was one of the strongest opponents I had ever faced in my life. I could still see those giant eyes glistening in the happiness of my shard-shattering body a few months ago.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Black Belt

October 19, 2025

Floor 9

Finally, we had made it to floor nine. Floor nine offered many luxuries, such as Warp Orbs, Trawl Orbs, Petrify Orbs, but especially Escape Orbs. Those were the life-saving orbs that would matter for the rest of the game. The second I got the LA Bonus, I ran up to the next floor and got as many Escape Orbs as I could. Sure, it seemed unfair, but everything was fair game when your own life depended on it. It was either me get all the orbs I could carry or let my almost-guild member's die.

However, my focus was on the item quest for this floor—and it was my turn to pick the quest. This was the "Karate Quest" floor, a small adventure with the Black Belt item as a reward. With my new STAB move in Force Palm, I had completely dominated the past few floors with barely any help. The paralysis chance, compounded with my decent attack stat and the power Force Palm provided, offered some great offense against the early Normal-types and Rock-types that plagued the early floors.

This floor did not, however, have the guild quest yet—that would be floor ten. Of course I would hop on that as well, but since it is still maybe a week away, I figured a two-day quest like the Karate story wouldn't be much trouble. As such, right after our breakfast of, you guessed it, apples, I had Budew accompany me on the first leg of the quest.

Out of the three different parts, this first was the easiest. All I had to do was talk to the NPC Throh, a red-bodied Fighting-type with good defenses, and beat him in a short battle. I had done it towards the end of the beta, so I could definitely do it at level 20, three levels higher than the first time I played this floor.

Budew and I walked through town with caution. I had explained the dangers of Sableye, the destruction he could cause, and we had all kept our eyes peeled for the threat. The most I've encountered were a few nervous feelings, like those where you're being watched. Nothing more. Whether Torchic (well, she was Torchic then. She's a Combusken now) was telling the truth or just messing with me, I was definitely freaked out as a result. She wouldn't do _that_ particular lie; As a Combusken in the last few floors of beta, she, too, faced Sableye a few times. I never understood why he bothered the Fighting-types when there were powerful non-evolving Normal-type Pokémon, like Tauros or Kangaskhan, which were easy to control.

Floor 9 was named Caveston, which was appropriate considering the vast amount of caves in the mountainous region. The town was carved into, and surrounded by a perimeter of, giant boulders and mountains. It was sort of appreciative that they took this step; the seventh floor started at the base of the mountains, the eight was along a little path up one of them, and this was the result. It almost felt like we were going through a real region, town by town. I figured I was one of the only ones who even cared for the scenery.

Throh's cave was lit on either side by a large torch. When we entered it, we began descending stone stairs with a small, yet distinguished, red carpet. Budew looked at me while we were walking and smiled.

"My happiness is almost at the minimum. Once we get this guild official, I have a feeling I'm going to evolve," she said.

I nodded. My happiness was almost at max, but I figured that getting the Black Belt would be just about enough, and then eating a Gummi would cover whatever leftover happiness I required. This floor would be the floor I evolved in for sure. Being a Lucario so early would grant me such easy experiences with the bosses. I could imagine the Aura Spheres, the Close Combats, and the Extremespeeds that would knock out those future bosses.

"I'm glad the guilds are available on the tenth floor," I heard her say.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Well," she began, "the tenth floor boss will be the first one new to us. We already know this floor's boss is a Muk, and all we need is Shieldon and me to take the Poison hits and hope there are some super effective attacks in the other parties. When we're a guild, it'll be on a brand new boss. We'll be together even closer, so there's no way we can lose. With your leadership and abilities, Buizel's determination, mine and Shieldon's defenses, and Fletchling and Whismur for backup, we're the perfect guild. Imagine when we recruit everyone else!"

She was right. If we recruited people like Monferno, Buneary, and maybe even Combusken, then we would really shine in the later floors. Imagine a Lucario and a Blaziken fighting side-by-side. It gave me chills just thinking about it. My nerdy senses couldn't stop piecing together the possibilities. We didn't get to form a guild really in beta, but this time would be different.

We came to Throh and saw the question mark above his head—the sign for a quest. I knew that, with this item, I would be able to still do good damage to Muk with Force Palm. I smiled at the thought and quickly interacted with the character.

"Hello, I'm looking for quite a challenge—are you a strong Fighting-type?" he asked.

I shouted yes louder than he spoke—my own form of overpowering him. He didn't understand any different from a regular yes, of course, but the _mentality_ of it all…

"Then we will have a one-on-one battle, no items, until one of us get to the yellow in HP. Note that if either of us scores a critical hit that would knock another out, the HP will stop at 1 and the life will be spared."

That feature made me sigh in relief. I didn't want to risk dying for whatever region. I confirm the battle and Budew watched firsthand on my excellent fighting skills with the Throh. It was sort of sad because, since Throh was only level 15, his best move was Seismic Toss. The attack would be a four-hit knock out on my HP bar, which was in the 50s at this point. Force Palm would do about the same, but I was faster and paralysis was also possible. As a result, my two Force Palms did just enough damage to knock him in the yellow before his second Seismic Toss could get to me.

The quest wasn't over, though. That was the sad part. I thanked Throh for the battle and he told me I was quite the contender for a great Fighting-type, but the ultimate test would be with his younger brother, Sawk, whose attack stat was far higher.

"He is on the eighth floor of the floor eight dungeon," Throh said.

Sawk looked amazingly strong, and as an NPC again at level 15, he was definitely a threat with his higher attack and speed and Double Kick attack. I had to be ready to rely on luck to beat this guy. The only one that beat him in one try in the beta was a Hawlucha, but that was only because of his Flying-typing. He did lose to Throh on the first try, so I'd call it a tie between us.

Budew and I returned toward our home and I was quickly met by Shieldon and Fletchling. They were waiting nearby the center portal of town, the portal that would lead to different floors, and I stopped while Budew kept going on home.

"You beat him?" Shieldon asked whole-heartedly.

"Of course," I smiled.

"You are _the_ Riolu, after all," Fletchling sighed. "Everyone's talking about how OP you are."

"OP" meant overpowered, at least to my knowledge, so I smiled at the compliment. If everyone was getting jealous of my power, I knew that I was a serious player in this game. Before Budew left, she wished me luck, and I told her I'd miss her healing magic. At the response, she commented about being a nurse in the future, but the idea of her wanting something other than the guild sort of hurt. Maybe she meant being a nurse inside the guild?

"Let's go," I said quietly.

The three of us hopped in the portal and selected "Floor 8" on the menu. We were beamed to the mountainous path and quickly ran through the barely-populated town. Almost everyone kept moving with the latest town; it was a huge trend. However, some found towns that were in their "element" and felt inclined to stay there. For me, I hadn't found such a town. The mountains were nice, but I hated just fighting Geodude time after time. There were a few Fighting-types, but the only threatening ones were the Mankey hoards. This path, however, mainly just had Machop—and Machop were the worst Pokémon I could think of…other than Sableye.

. . .

The three of us made it to the seventh floor of the dungeon. With Fletchling so close to evolving, he was determined to make the last floor count so he could finally get a big power boost.

"Are you sure you want to keep going?" I asked. "You look a little banged up."

The bird, bruises and scratches all over its body, nodded its head. "I ate the last Oran Berry, but I have to do this. If I level up, you won't treat me like I can't do anything."

I frowned. "Fletchling, it's just that you don't have that great of an attack stat. It's nothing personal."

" _It's nothing personal,_ " he mimicked in a whiney voice.

We made it to the eighth floor steps and quickly ran up them. Shieldon used Take Down to kill a Machop that was sneaking up behind us. The Pokémon fell back and shamefully blew into glass shards. A Pokémon with a quadruple fighting weakness just took down its worst nightmare. The idea made me proud to be with Shieldon.

"So, Shieldon," I said as we ran up to the next floor.

"Huh?"

"You're going to learn Iron Defense soon. That'll make you one of the strongest defenders for sure," I pointed out.

"Yeah, I know! Curse has its benefits, but I'm not much of a slow attacker. My stat is really low…sometimes I feel like I can't keep up with you and Buizel," Shieldon said.

I suddenly felt terrible. Shieldon also felt left out? First Budew—well, technically, first Fletchling—and now Shieldon? I turned back around to him, stopped in the middle of one of the dungeon rooms, and looked him straight in the eyes.

"You're not falling behind us, Shieldon. You are an excellent defender. You saved Buizel's life after he smacked the wall the other day in that boss battle. If it wasn't for you, he wouldn't have made it alive."

Shieldon seemed satisfied once I put him in the right perspective. I decided to keep talking. "Besides, you're going to have a huge role in deciding our defense units in the guild. You'll be the star defender! Soon enough, we won't even need the others."

The quadruped looked at me with an upright attitude and a proper posture. "Skarmory won't even be needed when we take over," he agreed.

"Exactly!"

Fletchling, meanwhile, began attacking a Machop in the hallway we just exited. He used Peck, but the Fighting-type began giving him some problems. I ran to his aid, but the damage sustained from a Low Kick apparently put him in the red. I could hear a distress signal coming from his menu, indicating that he needed to heal.

"Fletchling!" I yelled.

"I don't need your help!" he squealed.

I started digging in my bag as the bird Pokémon's HP fell lower and lower. With most of our money spent on Escape Orbs, we forgot to purchase Oran Berries in the market earlier this morning. I throw one of the Escape Orbs to Fletchling and he reluctantly catches it.

"Use it before you get killed!" I told him.

Fletchling dodged an attack and pecked at Machop's back, but then another one came from the other side. He apologized for not being able to handle the quest and used the orb to return to Floor 8's town. He disappeared and I quickly ushered Shieldon to the next room and we found the Gurdurr that was guarding Sawk's location. I went up to the Pokémon and used a Quick Attack move while I had the range advantage. Gurdurr staggered a little and came running at me. Shieldon used Protect and kept me from taking the damage of Gurdurr's Low Kick.

The Gurdurr shouldn't even exit; it was at around level 12, but Timburr doesn't evolve for a long time, even later than Fletchling. This one was just an obstacle. I used Force Palm, backed away from a Pound attack, and hit it one last time with my STAB move. Before going into Sawk's room, I ate a Max Elixir just in case the beta quest had changed some.

The room was actually just a small opening in one of the map walls. Shieldon and I entered to see Sawk standing with an exclamation point above his head. We made contact with him and the NPC suddenly began to move around the room looking for something. He grabbed a Black Belt, the item I sought after, and came back over to me.

"Are you the Fighting-type that my brother told me about?" he asked.

"Yes," I said bluntly.

"And you took out my Gurdurr?"

"Yes," I repeated.

"Well dang," he replied. The Pokémon looked at me, closed his eyes, and tipped his chin up. "Then meet me on the floor seven's dungeon and enter my house on the sixth floor. I know it's quite a ways, but if you _really_ want to fight me for this Black Belt, you have to be willing to walk for it."

I sighed. The quest had stayed the same, but it was also nighttime. I couldn't fight spawned monsters at night—it's too dangerous to do it just for an item. Shieldon and I looked at each other and agreed that I would continue the quest again tomorrow morning.

"I will be awaiting you," Sawk said, and he teleported out of his own domain.

I got the Escape Orbs out and, within minutes, Shieldon and I were in the eighth floor portal. We chose the "Floor 9" option and eventually made it back home by nightfall. The small valley in the mountains was almost suffocating to live in; it was like sleeping in the middle of a sharp bear trap. I felt as if one wrong move would cost me my life. However, it was still more comforting to be in the city—cities disallowed PVP of any kind. The Pokémon after me couldn't touch me here; just spy. And with the Sneaky Team Skill…

I got into my small bed, pulled the green comforter to my chin, and tossed and turned once Budew blew out the candle. That night, I dreamt of two diamonds following me wherever I went. In the Kecleon shops, it followed. In the dungeons, it followed. In the private house I had rented alone, it followed. Would this thing haunt me forever? I had thought the Pokémon wouldn't bother with me now, let alone consider the probability that it got online in time. Then again, my whole party made it, so I supposed anything is possible. There couldn't be more than fifty or so beta testers in the game. Out of the five hundred that even cared to play, maybe half would bother to buy the game—and even fewer would go beyond and get online at the stroke of midnight. Though gamers typically stayed up late, PMD:O wasn't exactly the "shoot 'em up" game everyone begged for in the VR setup. With the possibilities nevertheless opened, my sleep, when I got any, was haunted by a Pokémon Combusken could have been nagging me about.

. . .

The next morning, I quickly grabbed Buizel and Whismur as my two partners. While Budew planned to help in the dungeon conquering of Floor 9, which would be done by the Golden Warriors, Shieldon asked to stay at home and get some errands done and Fletchling wished to fool around. I hoped that meant he would try and level up, but there was no telling what the crazy bird would attempt.

Early that morning, the siblings were dragged out of the house after a quick bite to eat and a short farewell. I made them rub their eyes until they were raw and awake. I told them the game plan, the rest of the quest, and what they had to do. I was in control of the item bag this time, so they only needed a hold item. I gave them Oran Berries just in case the journey got tough. They seemed to understand everything, but based on the results of our little exploration on the fifth floor, I wasn't so sure. I didn't want to risk losing anyone, so the idea that they would even attempt such a mistake again would, without a doubt, cost them their lives and my own sanity.

I ran to the portal of the ninth floor and selected the floor two levels below me. I stepped out of the center of the town and looked at the small settlement overlooked by a massive mountain. Sawk's final meeting place would be somewhere in the middle of the large land mass, though it felt farther up when you were forced to climb several floors of the dungeon. Six floors wasn't anything hard, but the higher you were up the mountain, the more at risk you are to meet the Mankey tribes that occupy the territory. Buizel and I had to really buckle down a while ago when we were on this floor. Fletchling actually came in handy, but not as much as we had hoped.

Buizel and Whismur soon stepped out of the portal and yawned in unison. They walked side-by-side in the same manner right behind me. I felt like I was ordering around foot-soldiers. The three of us entered the dungeon and began flying through the lower floors.

. . .

. . .

After the three of us had moved on, another Pokémon beamed from the portal and watched solemnly. The insect smiled and waited for its friend to come through. Its white shell offered decent defense, but it couldn't be seen by anyone other than its soon-to-be guild. The basic form he was constrained to was not strong enough to take on a Riolu. At level nineteen, however, it was very close to being fully realized in its own eyes. As such, the Pokémon followed my guild slowly behind, and I couldn't even pick up on it. He looked to the portal and saw a Pokémon come out—a Dark-type Pokémon known for playing tricks. He smiled as the Pokémon joined him.

"Let's play a little trick on the 'OP' one, shall we?" the Bug-type asked his friend.

"You're not paying me enough to do this," the other muttered, her voice filled with boredom.

"Quiet! I think I heard him talk about that Karate Quest. Based on the beta, I think we should wait on the sixth floor of this dungeon. Hurry up and come on."

The Dark-type Pokémon rolled her eyes. "If I'm going somewhere else, you're upping my pay."

"We're going to be in the same guild, so you should really do this out of comradery."

. . .

With very few Pokémon on the first few floors, the main issue was the terrain. It was not as flat as some of the other maps, like the Tiny Woods back on Floor 1; there were boulders and ledges we had to cross on foot.

However, we quickly made it to the fifth floor and I began looking around for the stairs. Buizel and Whismur defeated any incoming Pokémon while I tried desperately to find the passageway.

"It's over there," Buizel said in exhaustion.

I looked in the direction he was pointing and frowned. There was nothing but a wall there. He walked straight forward and crashed into the wall, slamming his snout and causing him to wake up from his dazed state. He, Whismur, and I kept going on as we tried to fight slumber and make it up the mountaintop before the Mankey woke up.

Buizel suddenly ran over to a nearby berry and picked it off of a bush. I attempted to get a better look at the item, but Buizel held it in his cupped hands so none of us could get a glimpse of what it truly was.

"It's an Oran Berry!" he screamed in happiness.

However, the berry was a different tint of blue on further inspection. Still, Buizel ate the item in anticipation that he scored a free HP replenishment. After all, I had been hoarding them for the time Sableye came. I was forcing the others to fend for themselves and use the healing items sparingly. I felt bad and started to get more Oran Berries out for the rest of us.

"Ick!" the Water-type gagged.

He coughed up the blue berry skin and made a disgusted face. His HP bar went down 10 points. When I looked at the item name, I noticed it was actually an _Oren_ Berry, a lookalike used to fool us. Buizel was nearly in the red at this point, so I gave the two of them some Oran Berries and kept going to find the stairs.

In the fourth room we visited, which took about three minutes, the stairs were set in the back, gleaming and waiting for me to step on them once more. I quickly trotted up the stairs and found myself in the very room that Sawk was living near. When Buizel and Whismur came up, I instructed the two of them to stay put while I entered a large clearing. Nearby was the NPC, blue and draped in a white karate suit. He had the Black Belt tied tightly to his waist.

"Hello," he said solemnly.

I looked back at Whismur and Buizel; they were guarding the area despite the fact that initiated quests could not be seen by other party members; for example, if Shieldon came up to find us, he'd only find my two guardians. I would be hidden by the arena around me. It was to prevent interference and cheating one's way through the quest system. I was still worried for my friends' safety, though, and I wondered how long this battle would last.

While Sawk began to re-explain the same rules that applied to my battle with Throh, I paid attention to my surroundings. The arena was outlined in white chalk and the land was completely flat. I couldn't use any boulders to my advantage. The mountain was far enough to not be used as support for jumping, and one of the ends of the battlefield led to the edge of a cliff, though because I was in battle, the cliff was impossible to fall down. I sighed and knew I'd have to resort to straight offense—the consequence perfect for a Fighting-type matchup like this one.

"Let us begin. First to the yellow loses," he finished.

I nodded. I quickly went in for a Quick Attack, though he dodged it with his extraordinary speed. I kicked back and dodged a Double Kick, which narrowly missed my right eye. I grabbed one of the legs and used Force Palm, causing temporary paralysis and around 40% damage to his HP bar. Sawk may have had a high attack stat, but that came at the cost of low defense. I smiled and dodged another attack before suffering a Double Kick to the face and stomach, knocking me backwards and causing exactly 49% of my HP to deplete. I was almost in the yellow, though he was, too. It was a close call. I dodged another Double Kick and tried to use Force Palm, but Sawk leaned backward and the attack hit the arena-made invisible boundary.

. . .

Buizel and Whismur chowed down on apples while they waited for me to finish my match. Whismur looked at her big brother with honest eyes and began bombarding him with questions about their future together.

"Jay, tell me about how we'll get out of here again!"

Buizel groaned jokingly and put an arm around his sister. "Again? Alright, sis, whatever you want. Just imagine it—you and me, me and you—on the fiftieth floor of that boss. Riolu is there as a Lucario and I'm there as a Floatzel. You're an Exploud, all loud and mighty—" he started.

"But I don't want to evolve! I just want to be me, a little Whismur," she giggled.

"Alright…You're a Whismur, all loud and proud, and you use your mighty Boomburst attack to deafen that godly Pokémon and make it beg for mercy! You save us all, and we're all proud of you—me, Lucario, Bastiodon, Roserade, Talonflame. You get to send us all home."

Whismur hugs her big brother and nuzzles in his orange fur. "I love that story," she said. "Tell it again."

Buizel knew this was her escape from the shock of the game; they hadn't seen their parents in what felt like forever. He gulped at the thought of all the chores he'd have when he got home. He forgot to clean out his hamper before turning the game on, so the room probably smelled terrible. His sheets were probably dusty by now and the dog hadn't been fed, so there's no telling what could have happened. He thinks about little Whismur, little Ellie, and how she's had to cope with this at an even younger age than his own.

"All right," he smiled. "One more time."

. . .

I turned around and barely missed one of the Double Kicks and anticipated the second one just in time to grab the foot and turn Sawk around. I landed on my feet, as did he, and I knew I'd have to get in close. I let him begin to charge with a Double Kick and, upon seeing Sawk's true speed, I begged for the plan to work. I kicked off the ground at the last second and used Quick Attack in the air to launch an acute angle in my jump and slam Sawk to the ground. The Quick Attack was just enough to bring him slightly under half, so the battle was over. Though I suffered from a quick one-sided match, I had managed to do the damage in just enough time. I sighed in relief and ate one of the Oran Berries from before.

"You are a worthy contender," Sawk bowed, his hands clasped together. "To keep my word, I bestow to you the coveted Black Belt. You are the ultimate Fighting-type. I can only hope we will meet again," the computer told me through the Pokémon avatar.

I thought nothing of his "kindness" since it was all an act. I took the belt, said a measly "thank you," and left the arena with a belt tied around my waist. Now my Fighting-type attacks would be 20% stronger. I would have even more power to attack anything with.

I stepped outside and was brought back into the MMO-part of the game. I looked to the edge of the room and saw a Mankey corpse suddenly disappear into a million shards of glass. The glass evaporated in the air and I quickly felt a knot in my stomach.

"Did you just kill one of the Mankey?" I asked anxiously.

"No," Buizel said, his eyebrows obviously shifted into confusion.

Whismur and Buizel were on the opposite end of the large room, and I knew I didn't have enough time to make it there. I saw the Mankey already swarming the open space surrounding the two Pokémon. I ran full-force and quickly learned of my shortcomings as a mere Riolu. I watched as Buizel and Whismur familiarly felt trapped.

Buizel and Whismur began attacking the Mankey with what PP they had left from the fight. I couldn't throw them the Escape Orbs I'd been hoarding, either, and quickly realized I made an error in their held items. Instead of giving them the orbs, I gave them berries. I kept running, but the Mankey eventually encircled them—and leaving me out. They began to scream. Buizel used Sonic Boom and killed another Mankey, but that only caused more tension. We were on their land and had killed one of their own. The only problem is that we didn't actually kill it…so who did? I instinctively looked at all the possible exits; the one behind me was empty, the one in front was completely full of Mankey, and the hallway to my left—

I turned to see two large, hexagonal diamonds followed by glistening teeth disappearing into the darkness. I screamed. We were set up. I tried to warn them, tried to tell them who was doing this, but they couldn't hear me.

"It's a trap!" I had said. "Sableye set up a trap! I saw his face!"

I caught up to the Mankey and began one-shotting them with Black Belt-boosted Force Palm attacks. However, there were easily four Mankey in between me and Buizel. I couldn't defeat them and the ones beginning to surround me in time. I fished for the orbs and dropped two of them, just for the Mankey to pick them up and hold them until my attacks killed them all.

As I began killing every Mankey to get the orbs back, I knew time was running out. They had already eaten the berries. I hadn't packed enough materials. Whismur and Buizel were about to die. I ignored reality's probability and kept killing Mankey. Force Palm, shattered corpse. Force Palm, glass dissipated. I was a murdering machine. My Intimidation Team Skill caused most of the Mankey to double back in fear of my power. I quickly made it to Buizel and Whismur, both near death, and killed one last Mankey. I breathed at the closeness and we all began walking to pick up the items left behind by the crazy Mankey tribe. I was in front, Whismur in the middle, and Buizel at the rear. I went to pick up the last Escape Orb when I heard scuffling in the ground.

"Buizel, look out!" I screamed in terror.

Buizel turned around to see a Mankey jumping at him with a Low Kick attack. Buizel screamed and tried to dodge, but it was impossible. I ran to him as fast as I could, dropping the Escape Orb, and knew that close-range attack was too close for me to defend. I kept running until my legs were ready to bust.

The rest went in slow motion. I was fully intent on watching Buizel fall backward from the fear of dying, yet I had completely forgotten about Whismur. When I remembered her, I saw that she had jumped in front of her older brother, the one who had saved her countless times already, to save him. The Low Kick attack slammed Whismur hard into the ground, depleting her HP points into the red and eventually at zero. The thud echoed for what felt like forever. Buizel screamed, I screamed. I dispatched the Mankey in an instant. We ran to her and begged for a sliver of health to be left. We looked: nothing.

"Jay," she whispered. "Please make it home okay."

Whismur closed her eyes and we watched her body shatter into a million pieces of digital glass. The shards scattered throughout the sky, presumably the whole dungeon, and the entire mood turned sour. I saw Buizel grabbing at the shards, trying to grab them and somehow put them together to make his sister whole again. She was gone. Whismur was really dead.

"Ellie!" he said softly.

"Buizel…" I said cautiously.

"Ellie's gone, Riolu," he muttered.

"I know, Buizel, I'm so sorry. It's my f—"

"She's really gone. My sister's dead and it's all my fault."

I couldn't breathe. "No," I shouted, my head shaking.

"She's gone and it's all my fault!" he screamed angrily.

I knew what was happening next. I ran up to Buizel and grabbed his arm right before his Slash attack was able to cut his throat. I grabbed it and made it slice through me instead. The damage hurt, but I took it. I grabbed Buizel's shoulders and shook him gently. Tears were streaming from his eyes. My own were beginning to leak. I looked at his face and felt my body shaking.

"Buizel, it's not your time. Whis—Ellie wanted you to go on. You can't just die, just let her death be for nothing."

He fell onto my neck and I let Buizel sob on my shoulder. He hugged my waist hard, but I took the pain and told him to let it all out. We remained on the sixth floor of the seventh floor's dungeon for a long, long time.

. . .

"So you let Whismur _die?_ " Fletchling screeched.

My mouth went open. I was being accused of Whismur's death? She willingly let herself die for Buizel's safety. Sure, I could have given them the Escape Orbs instead, but I didn't know that Sableye was going to attack. I couldn't have possibly known. I put my fist on the dinner table and shook my head furiously.

 _But you had a feeling_ , I heard myself thinking.

 _Shut up, I didn't know a thing!_ I barked back.

I was going crazy talking to myself. I grabbed my ears and pulled in agony. Fletchling continued with his words of hatred.

"You're the leader. You shouldn't have let Whismur die like that. I thought you were some legendary player, Riolu. You're just as sloppy as the rest of us. I don't want to be in the same guild as someone who lets his friend's sister die."

I made some weird sound from my throat. I couldn't say anything. The accusation was too strong. Buizel was in his bed crying and here I am trying to clear my own name. I should be comforting him, not trying to explain how it's technically no one's fault—at least not mine.

"Riolu," Shieldon said as he shifted uncomfortably. "Why didn't you kill all the Mankey?"

"You know, this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't waited to get that stupid item," Fletchling continued.

"Did anyone else see the Mankey?" Budew attempted to ask.

"No," I admitted. "It's-it's my fault."

The room went silent. I didn't know what was going to happen with me. I hadn't planned on everyone turning on me. I looked towards Shieldon, but he looked at the floor. I glanced at Budew, but she watched over Buizel. I could feel Fletchling's eyes tear through my soul.

"You know what?" he provoked.

I gritted my teeth.

"I'm going to take up Skarmory's offer. He wouldn't let me die so he could get some item boost. Enjoy your little guild, guys, I hope you don't mind sleeping next to a murderer tonight," he said. Fletchling packed his bag with a few items from the party inventory and left without another word.

Shieldon and Budew looked at each other and started mumbling.

"I better avoid the drama for now, Riolu," Shieldon said with regret. "Thank you for the offer, though. I hope your guild is successful."

He too, walked out of the building after getting some items. I had no idea Shieldon could heartlessly abandon me like that.

"Buizel, I'm sorry about your sister," his voice whispered as he closed the door.

I looked at Budew, the last person at the table. She was the reasonable one. Surely she wouldn't leave me just because some slip-up happened and I couldn't stop it. However, I saw her get off the chair and start walking toward her bed.

"Riolu, I'm really sorry about this. I know you didn't mean to, but…I think it would be best if we split up for a while. Keep in touch," she smiled, kissed Buizel, and hugged me before walking out of the room.

Buizel and I were left completely alone. I went to his bed and patted his shoulder. I told him it was all going to be okay, that everything would work out the best it could. Whismur would want that. However, that last phrase made him hop out of bed and confront me with a certain viciousness in his eyes.

"What Whismur would want? How do _you_ know what Whismur would want?" he barked.

I had crossed some sort of line. I put my hands up, palms facing him, and told him I didn't mean to say anything out of the way. I just wanted to help him get over this. The two of us could defeat the dungeons easily if we focused and didn't mess up too often. I hugged Buizel, but he kept glaring at me.

"Fletchling was right…you wanted that item too badly, but you didn't get us up in time. You know, I remember you saying that Whismur wasn't strong enough for our team. Do you remember that, Riolu? You said Whismur would slow us down!"

That phrase was back in the beta, but I didn't bother try to correct him. I motioned for him to slow down.

"You're not making any sense, Buizel," I said with a tear forming in the ducts of my eyes.

"No, Riolu, you're starting to make complete sense. All you care about is _yourself._ Whismur died on your watch. _You_ are our leader. That's what you wanted! Maybe I shouldn't have tried to kill myself out there," he said, death in his eyes. "Maybe it should have been you…"

I couldn't control my emotions anymore. I cried more than I had in a decade. I had never been one to cry, actually, but to think that one mess-up, one fatal mess-up, destroyed everything I had going planned for survival? Was everything I created just for my own benefit?

"You never think of anyone but yourself! You care more about clearing your name than you did protecting my sister. You know what? Just leave me alone, Riolu. I'm going solo. I don't need you. Good luck in the rest of the game. I'm not going to kill you because I'm better than that, but we're done. W-we're through. You're the worst friend a man could have." Buizel cried too loudly for his own words to make complete sense. "I hate you."

With that, Buizel grabbed a bag, got some items, barely leaving me with anything, and walked out the door. It slammed shut behind him. I was the only one left in the party house. I had lost my future, my team, but most importantly, my best friend. I grabbed my brown bag, stored the apples and berries left in the refrigerator, and left my own house to wander around on the ninth floor. I wasn't going to challenge this dungeon's boss. I wasn't going to do much of anything. To be honest, if I ended up dead at the hands of Sableye…well, that would be okay. I deserved it.


	5. Chapter 5 - Facton

October 30th, 2025

Floor 10

Everyone, excluding myself, waited outside the large doors that led into the tenth floor's dungeon boss—the first unknown boss to beta testers. With the usual 30ish Pokémon together, though in a somewhat smaller amount than the past couple floors, everyone was ready to attack the mystery boss.

At the doors' very base, the green insect, Scyther, and steel-based bird, Skarmory, were glaring at each other with a very intense power struggle. They muttered phrases under their breaths and came up with their own version of how the battle should be fought. However, the ultimate leader in this fight was Monferno of "The Frontliners," a new guild starring the very first person I helped when the game started. What began as a timid monkey turned out to be the making of a hardened warrior; the concept seemed strangely poetic to me, though I found almost everything terribly depressing at the time.

The Frontliners had fewer battles than either of their teams; the Golden Warriors and Flying Fighters had the same amount of players. Monferno's group had his mere party of six, however their synergy was enough to take a chunk out of the other teams. Monferno didn't let the numbers dictate who really held the power though, because he quickly raised a furry orange arm into the air.

"We need tranquility, not differing opinions! How are we supposed to defeat the floor boss when you can't even decide who is covering what flank? It's pathetic. While you two attempt to patch things up, I'd _like_ to call out names and make sure everyone is here."

The two veteran commanders became embarrassed and quickly set their hatred aside. Monferno got a list of names out and began calling for people. After learning everyone from the three main guilds was present, he started on the solo players. My own group would have been dispersed into the "solo" group, however Fletchinder joined the Flying Fighters and Shieldon sided by Scyther and the Golden Warriors.

Monferno called out the solo players. Buizel, Buneary, Cubone, Dewott…the list kept going. Budew was not included because she quit battling in the raid parties altogether, but otherwise everyone was present. Everyone except me.

Monferno had shakily read my name, reluctance obviously in his voice. Buneary had told me about it later. Buizel, too, had skipped the dungeon just before, but he was present for this one. He stayed alone, no friends nearby for comfort or even regular support. He isolated himself from everyone, not just me.

"Riolu is still missing?" Buneary whispered. "Is he okay?"

"I haven't seen him since the ninth floor," Monferno said.

The raid party mumbled and murmured, however one voice was much louder than the rest—Fletchinder's. The bird had evolved in Skarmory's care and even advertised his training abilities because of it. He was just a few experience points away when he was with me. I was the reason Fletchinder was even a contender in the raid battles.

"Riolu is beta scum," he yelled.

Buneary raised an eyebrow and pushed several Pokémon around to get to the annoying bird. She looked him straight in the eyes and gave her best attempt at intimidation.

"Oh, really? I seem to remember you _also_ being a beta tester. All six of you were, and there was nothing bad about that. You helped us all the way here with very few problems. What's wrong with that?"

Fletchinder spat right at her. "I only have natural moves in my arsenal—I have Ember, Peck, Agility, and Quick Attack. You have no proof that I was a beta tester."

Buneary stepped back in surprise. "You had Tailwind in the first boss battle!"

"I don't seem to recall having that egg move. Does anyone else? Does anyone have message logs for proof? If no one is willing to speak up, and you also have no proof, then you may as well give up. You can't prove anything," Fletchinder smirked, looking backward at the others.

Many Pokémon mumbled, but none of them stood up for Buneary. Shieldon shrunk behind his guild members and Buizel didn't move to say a word. I felt empty inside knowing that Buizel wouldn't even vouch for our past and prove our innocence in any wrongdoing. To think that he would just let it go like that…

"Budew, Buizel, and Riolu used their beta knowledge and egg moves for battles and quests. They were selfish. Riolu has won six of the past nine boss bonuses. You, Buneary, won one of them, Buizel did, and Scyther did. Seven out of nine last attack bonuses went to the beta testers. Budew quit battling altogether and Buizel is an emotional train wreck. Neither of them are battle fit anymore, so Riolu is the only real threat to us. Beta testers like him should be condemned to fighting on the lower floors!"

A few Pokémon cheered awkwardly, but they could tell the hostility wasn't over by a long shot. Buneary glared at Fletchinder so hard that it was almost like she had learned the move herself. The two stared each other down while everyone else merely watched in a large ring of spectators.

"I wanted to be an Aerodactyl," Fletchinder shouted aloud. "I didn't want to be a dumb old Fletchling, but that's what I got!"

Fletchling had chosen his Pokémon so he could get the Gale Wings priority boost on Roost and Brave Bird. He was a complete sham in trying to procure such a despicable trust with the others based on falsehoods and generalizations.

"I…I did want to be a Nincada," Geodude muttered.

"And I wanted to be a Riolu," Scyther admitted.

Suddenly, mutters of agreement filled the room. Many others agreed with the popularity of Riolu that, when I heard the news, I was suddenly guilt-ridden by choosing my first pick. Was it unfair? Was it rude that I let my own selfish know-it-all tendencies to guide my own choices? Is that what made my friends leave in the first place?

"I wanted an egg move," Skarmory announced. "Stealth Rock. But since my application wasn't hand-picked in the beginning, I got a metal bird with only a part of its competitive viability."

"I wanted Roost," Staravia agreed.

Many Pokémon were starting to get angry at the beta testers. Our applications were picked for separate reasons, reasons beyond my own knowledge. It wasn't fair to blame the entirety of the unfairness on the beta testers when they were just using what was given to them. Perhaps True Reality wished to see such a turn of opinion change on a pivot floor like this.

Buneary went over to Buizel and looked meaningfully into his sullen eyes. They were full of dullness; the life that once filled them, the goofy clumsiness and terribly hilarious storytelling were gone. The eyes of a warrior were now the holes of a decaying corpse. While Buizel was still fighting fit, he wasn't the same in his mind.

"Aren't you going to take up for him? He's your best friend!" Buneary pleaded.

The orange sea otter scratched at his flotations ac and shook his head. He looked around at the foggy forest and glanced back up at the giant wooden doors. They seemed ominous in such an unsettling situation; they foretold what kind of mischief everyone would get involved in after this floor. Floor 10 started a new story, a new progression in what was to become the ultimate fight of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Online.

"I can't believe you. Especially _you_ , Buizel. He offered knowledge and tactics and everything! Scyther, he saved your life on floor one. Buizel, he saved yours more than you give him credit for, yet you'll gladly blame him on your sister's death? Do you really want to lose your friends, too?" she shouted at his ear, though he showed no resultant cognition.

Buneary panicked and kept looking from Monferno to Scyther, and sometimes to Skarmory. Scyther looked away at the mention of his name and Monferno trembled at the thought of his idol being subjected to such infamy. However, he still said nothing. Buneary was the only one taking up for me.

Fletchinder, sensing the awkward tension of indecision rising in the air, spoke up. "His knowledge is useless now. This is _our_ time to shine. Let's show him—and the other beta testers—who knows how to play this game! Beta testers just want all the glory, but now it's ours!"

Eventually, everyone agreed, and Buneary's head fell in defeat as they rallied to fight the next boss. A few people put a paw on Buneary's shoulder, however most paid attention to the residing leaders of the raid party. Monferno, Scyther, and Skarmory stood up. The Fire-, Bug-, and Steel- typed guild leaders were all upset by the overall attitude everyone seemed to suggest, however they opened the doors anyway to reveal the mystery boss on this tenth floor.

The doors creaked open as they slammed against either side of the wall. Everyone peeked in to see a rather unusual situation: a battle was already in progress. The torches were already lit along the wall and the sound of battling could be heard from the middle of the room. Buneary bounced to see who was in the room and shrieked when she learned who: me.

"We're the only raid party," Scyther whispered.

"That's not a raid party," Monferno said with admiration. "That's Riolu."

. . .

When I had opened the doors—and closed them—a few moments before they'd arrived, I saw a small purple blob gooped up in the middle of the room. I poked at it and two eyes sprang forward. I immediately recognized the Pokémon was a ditto, but it seemed out of place as a boss on the tenth floor…we're already one-fifth of the way through PMD:O and we had a Ditto this far in the game?

When I had touched the Pokémon, its body vibrated in a jellylike consistency, but it quickly morphed into a purple version of my body. As if a paint bucket was dumped over the Ditto's head, the coloration my VR sprite possessed poured over the figure and turned it completely into myself.

It was like looking a mirror, though with a slightly goofier, fun-house type side effect to the situation. Anyway, seeing myself in a time like this was devastating. It was like looking at the man that killed your family. I looked in his hollow eyes and they stared blankly back into mine. Were they really that two-dimensional? Could my goal really be described by my physical appearance?

You might have wondered at this point why I would even attack a boss alone. Wouldn't I want to team up with someone who was willing to work with the sister murderer? No, my reputation was tarnished completely. Wouldn't I try to rekindle things with Buizel? I couldn't show my face around him. Buneary? Same problem. I was nothing, and so I felt like if I was going to survive in this game, I needed to prove to myself that I was something. I would attack this boss by myself and if I survived, then I kept living. If I didn't, then my guilt would disappear as my avatar was destroyed. I almost wished the second option was the more viable one, however there was something in me that wouldn't let Fletchinder win.

I couldn't let him win, I couldn't let Sableye win. What would they think if I just died? Would they care? Would Buizel? With all my attention suddenly reversed completely, I felt like I was dead weight to the group…or maybe to myself. I wasn't completely sure. It was the sort of cheesy moment that someone said an action must be done by himself, and I at least understood that.

Anyway, I battled as if my life were at stake, but even more so than usual. I had watched the Riolu Fake morph, but at this point it was ready to attack. I dodged a Quick Attack and quickly used Force Palm on the up-close Pokémon. It was knocked back and suffered a decent chunk of HP. I kicked off the ground and started running up the wall in a Quick Attack motion so I could chisel away at the HP bar. Ditto sustained more damage, but he used a Force Palm as I came in close. The attack left me almost completely paralyzed. Only the upper half of my body could move, and it stung whenever I tried to resist the status. I luckily managed to rummage in my back to find the item I was looking for.

While I used a Cheri Berry to heal up, and eventually an Oran Berry when I had the chance, I was forced to take more damage. When I could move again, I dodged a Force Palm by rolling over, but I got slammed with a Quick Attack three times in a row. I stumbled over and allowed a fourth one to overcome me. Soon enough, the paralysis started to wear off. I could move a foot, then a leg, and as I noticed another attack coming my way, my whole body.

I jumped to my feet, but my HP was already very low at this point. I was breathing heavily and the Ditto hadn't sustained enough damage to even attempt calling the battle a tie right now. I used Quick Attack to do more damage but had to just barely dodge a Force Palm. I grabbed the arm that Ditto used and rammed it into the ground. He jumped in a Quick Attack and smacked his head on my face, causing me to fall back in pain. I dodged another Force Palm and attacked with one of my own. We were both low in HP, and I had somehow managed to bring his bar down into the same amount of yellow that I had.

I ate another Oran Berry in exchange for suffering a priority move's damage during my cool-down period. Once I healed up most of the way, I noticed a strange look in the eyes of the Riolu clone: dread. It was the same dread that had beset me not to long ago. It was terrifying to see my own internal destruction. I felt like I was looking in the eyes of a murderer.

He used Force Palm straight away and I countered with a Force Palm of my own, causing a super-energized high five that knocked us both back. I used Quick Attack and slid against the Riolu's torso, knocking him farther. A white light followed me in my movements.

Defeating this boss alone wouldn't help me with my emotional distress, but it could help with my confidence and will to survive. Perhaps beating myself would knock the hate out of me. I wasn't sure, but I could at least try to move on to the next floor. I snapped out of my thoughts just in time to dodge another incoming attack, this time a Bullet Punch. That egg move was a waste of time, to be honest. I didn't have a need for it. I dodged the attack and punched the Riolu in the stomach. Besides, ignoring my egg move might be the smarter approach when I could hear Fletchinder say something about beta testers from the outside.

It was at this time that the doors opened. I didn't look over there, but I could feel everyone watching me in awe. I kept moving. I dodged a Quick Attack kick and grabbed the Riolu's leg, but he used his other leg to kick me in the face. I staggered and threw the Pokémon down against the hard floor of stone. My HP was getting close to the red at this point, but so was the boss's. I got on top of the body and used Force Palm to deal more damage, but he quickly jumped back up and slammed me with another of the priority moves.

I heard a shriek from the gaping hole in the dungeon. "Riolu, stop!" Buneary screamed.

I dodged the Pokémon's last Quick Attack and grabbed the collar around his neck. I held him up in the air, the innocent-looking but deservedly-guilty expression just watching me, and I threw him to the ground once more. I was badly scratched up. I felt savage, maybe insane. I was gasping for air, but I kept going with my momentum. I gave one last acknowledgment to the helpless Riolu, trapped in a world such as this, and got my Face Palm ready. My hand started glowing white. Small currents of static ran around my hand.

A tear ran down my face as I put my palm against the detained Ditto. It turned back into a purple blob and quickly shattered into a million pieces of worthlessness. It was like breaking my mirror image. Distorting the water's reflection. I had killed myself, in a sense. I was on my knees, but I had to push against the floor with my hands so I wouldn't fall face-first when the body disappeared. I stayed in that position, huffing, and felt the sweat and tears dripping down.

"Congratulations!" a screen appeared at the top. It was the same pointless message every time. I got another Last Attack bonus, a Silk Scarf. I had no use for it, but I kept it anyway. Maybe I'd find a Normal-type that would want it, or maybe I would keep it for the sake of collecting all the bonuses.

Everyone in the doorway started to pour in. I imagined they wanted to make sure what just happened was real. I walked to the large stairway without looking back. I didn't glance at Buizel. I was too ashamed. I had let him down more than I ever could have imagined. I wasn't ready to see him again, not like this. I couldn't handle it.

I felt like I should move on. I got my point across. I staggered to the stairs and fell at their base. I heard running in the dungeon and looked to see who'd bother to help a murderer, a beta tester, a waste of data like me.

It was Buneary. She grabbed a berry from her bag and told me to eat it. Apparently I was paralyzed slightly, though I hadn't noticed the icon before. No wonder I was struggling. She healed up my wounds while everyone else kept looking at the spot the dungeon boss had fallen.

I looked at the ground and at my hand. I was paralyzed—because I killed the life I was building so perfectly. I was stuck. Literally. I closed my eyes and shut them until my eyelids could almost bleed. I screamed out in pain, emotional pain, and tried to keep walking. I fell again on the third step. I moved my hands and pathetically tried crawling up the stairs. I didn't want help. I didn't want pity, or congratulations, or happiness. I just wanted to be left alone so I could clear this game myself.

I screamed again. Had I just murdered my own innocence? Was there a way to turn back now? Just a floor ago, I had it made. I was with the perfect guild working as a perfect team on perfect missions. My own quest caused my best friend to lose his sister. It was my fault, and now I've just severed any connection with bringing that back. I gulped.

"Riolu," Buneary said quietly.

"I need to keep going," I struggled to say.

"Just stop it," she whispered. "Stop hurting yourself."

I didn't understand what she was saying. I opened my eyes to see that I was using Force Palm on my own arm. I was damaging myself. My HP bar slowly plummeted and I realized I was killing myself in front of everyone. I quickly gasped and let go of my arm. My HP stopped in the yellow once more. I looked at Buneary, who had tears about to stream down her face, and turned to see everyone else.

They all were dead silent. No one, not even Fletchinder, could describe the scene that had witnessed. I wasn't sure whether they thought the spectacle was beautifully human or disgustingly inhumane. In the back of the crowd, I saw Buizel. He wouldn't even look me in the eyes.

. . .

Floor 11

The restaurant music playing was admittedly catchy. I caught myself trying to learn its tune as I entered the building and sat at a table. Floor eleven was known for its factories—the town was named Facton as a result. It was created as the major production center for material goods, include edible items. Buneary thought it would be a good idea for me to get something to eat, so she took me to the most expensive restaurant on the floor: the Gummi Emporium.

We entered the building, a two-story diner with outside seats and umbrellas and everything. I was impressed by the detail. We entered the glass doors and an audible bell sound came about. The restaurant was completely empty since we were the first ones on the floor. Sure, it was about an hour after the portal was opened, but most people were looking for houses or the many item shops. Not many people could afford to just buy so many gummis as a meal. The most convenient way would be to find them in the dungeons.

The time on my menu clock said 7:59 PM. She told me to come before her since she knew I would be late. She was supposed to arrive in exactly one minute. The NPC waitress, an Audino, asked for my drink of choice, but I told her I needed more time to think it over. I've told her that same message four times. I felt sort of bad, but I partially forgot the fact that she only understood my command, not the irritating displeasure behind it. My clock ticked once to 8 at night and I heard the door open.

I turned around in my seat to see Buneary step in. She was wearing a small vest, obviously a distraction in battle, and a bow in one of her cotton balls that laid on her ears. I was wearing nothing special. Technically, I was wearing nothing at all. I was just my natural avatar.

Buneary stood at the table and waited a second. I took the hint and stumbled out of the chair, falling over and attempting to grab at the top of the table, and landed with a thud. I got up and pushed Buneary's chair back for her. She sat in it and brought it in herself. I quickly went back to my seat and acted professional and intelligent.

"Hey, Riolu, how are you feeling?"

I was quickly struck with grief. This couldn't be her attempt to get me back into a good mood, right? I was trying to be nice, but I wasn't going to skip along and slay enemies like I used to. It's not the same as before.

I ultimately didn't answer. The waitress gave us our item menus for the drinks. We both pressed the translucent button on the screen that read "water." After that, the food menu popped up. I clicked the button that let me wait a minute to decide and began scrolling through the list. As I looked over the menu, I noticed there weren't any prices by the item names. That wasn't a good sign. I mean, yeah, I wasn't broke or even ranked among the middle class. I had some dough. The issue was that I didn't want to lose it.

Meanwhile, the waters were created in front of our eyes. First, the schematics for the item was projected in green outline, but the glass resemblance was eventually colored in and the water was filled after that. Watching the items appear like that was always cool, but I wasn't in the mood to appreciate much.

"I'll take the White Gummi Plate," Buneary announced as she laid her red menu down. She scrolled through the food list and clicked the food she had decided out loud. Grinning, she watched the food appear in front of her own eyes.

I chose the Orange Gummi Plate and had an identical reaction. However, I still hadn't spoken during the meal. The Audino walked away and Buneary looked me in the face as she ate. I felt a cold stare go right through my soul. I felt like an open book.

"So my first team skill is apparently Last-Minute. Do you know what that does?" she asked.

I grabbed a small gummi from my plate and plopped it into my mouth. I didn't want to answer.

"It means my evasion goes up when my HP is low. What do you have?"

I still kept my mouth shut. My mind wandered to Buizel. We both dreamt of the possibilities of team skills making us unstoppable machines. When, in the beta, my first skill had something to do with item finding and not offense, I was devastated. Now, though, I at least had the Intimidation skill. I caused flinching just by looking.

"Yeah, that's cool…" Buneary frowned. "You know, I'm doing this for you. You need some sort of relief from all the grief going on."

I looked at my plate once more. I connected the gummis to macaroni noodles, however these were limp and cheese-less. I picked up a gummi again and ate it, though I wasn't satisfied by its taste. Something was off about it, or maybe something was off about me. I couldn't tell; I had been so emotional the past day or two that everything just seems wrong.

"What was it like beating that boss all by yourself?"

I shrugged. She stared blankly at my distasteful reactions and I felt like every shrug or head movement stung her a little bit. I felt bad for the girl; she was only trying to make me feel better. She just wanted be back on the front lines so I could hunt for spawns, item drops, and the boss room.

"You know, I'm on your side. I know you did nothing. Fletchinder can yap all he wants to—he says he's not a beta tester? Ha! He was bragging to me about how he chose his ability and had new priority and blah, blah, blah," Buneary said loudly.

I looked around to see if anyone was awkwardly staring at the scene she was making, but then I remembered the whole restaurant was empty. I felt better about the embarrassment, however her yelling still made me flinch. Maybe _she_ had Intimidation.

"I'm not going to follow his rebellion. Beta testers have helped us come this far, so I don't know why he's making a big deal out of everything. It doesn't make sense."

I wanted to tell her that it did make sense, that I understood what he was doing: he was trying to cast the blame of their hardships, their unfamiliarity, on us, and specifically on me. So many newcomers died those first few days because they didn't know where to go for items or experience traps. We veterans tackled all the best places and tactics so that we could have a lead on the game. In the end, we decided to help everyone when Arceus had explained how we're trapped, but that gap in knowledge made many fall short of becoming warriors, and some lost their lives. The people who suffered from emotional pain needed a medium to hate on, to let their anger out on. Fletchinder made that be us. He stabbed his own minority in the back just so he could remain in good ranks with the Flying Fighters.

Buneary went into her inventory menu and selected some button. I figured out soon enough when a bottle of honey materialized by her side. The bunny lathered her gummis with the honey and got a fork on her side. She dug into the plate like it was a bunch of baked beans and soon stopped when she saw me barely eating.

"Here," she said, smoothing some honey out on top of my orange gummis. "I got this honey from a nice Combee on floor three. I helped him out and, in exchange, voila! How is it?"

I tasted the honey and immediately felt a sensation that brought me back home. My mother used to make these wonderful sandwiches with just a twinge of honey lathered in. While I played video games and ate mine, my sister would always take them all to her room. I never really thanked her for the honey taste even though that extra flavor made the sandwiches much more tasteful. I should have thanked her for the honey, however I just nodded silently and kept eating.

"You should go on a quest later," she suggested while she played with the last few gummis on her plate. "It might help out on your stress. I can go with you…but you should probably go alone to find yourself," Buneary added at the last minute. "It might do you some good."

The honey taste was still on my mind. She was talking about my well-being, but I couldn't resist but ask: "Where did you get that honey from again?"

Buneary gritted her teeth and slapped me on the left cheek. I stumbled out of my chair and quickly balanced myself on its seat. I got up, a red circle mark now on my face, and rubbed the bruising area in pain. It quickly faded, however, since we were in a town.

"Were you even listening to me?!" she screamed, her face turning red. "Riolu, I swear—I have never known anyone so _annoying!_ "

She stopped ranting and eventually copied my actions and finished eating. My face seemed to almost still hurt, but I knew it was my imagination. Somewhere deep down, that slap felt wonderful.

"Buneary," I eventually said.

Hearing me speak again startled her. She coughed and nearly choked on a gummi.

"What?"

I put my paws on the table and leaned in close. I glanced around to see if anyone was watching. I looked her dead in the eyes and put on my most serious expression.

"There is a greater evil at work here. Fletchinder isn't the problem. Let me know if you find something suspicious, okay?"

Buneary stood up to leave. She nodded her head and began to turn away from me, however I quickly grabbed her right wrist before she could leave me.

"Oh, and Buneary…" I said in a lower tone.

She turned her head back towards me. Our eyes met. My heart was beginning to beat faster. I could feel myself grow warm because of the computer-programmed eyes staring back at me. There was emotion in those eyes. Was it possible to capture such a humane concept in a device of technology?

"Just—thanks," I finally said in a hushed voice.

She smiled understandingly and blinked for one long second. I felt the need to say something else.

"Do me a favor and join a good guild. Get in with some people that will protect you. Stay in large numbers. Don't let yourself get carried away with loners like me. Work your way up in the guilds while you still have a reputation," I told her.

She began to protest about the protection part, but she paused and slowly nodded. "I will, thanks."

Buneary went towards the door as the waitress came to inform me of the total. The rabbit put a hand on the doorknob as the check was being announced.

"Wait!" I called. "You didn't pay for your meal!"

Buneary opened the door, causing the bell to ring. She smiled at me again and winked hard. "Thanks for the gummis, Rio! Waitress, put my bill with that nice fellow—the dog in blue!"

With that, I made a disgusted face as she ran out the door and into the streets of Facton. The bill popped up on my screen and I screeched upon seeing the price.

"5,000 Poké for a plate of gummis?!"

However, with Buneary's bill added on, that quantity immediately had a small "2x" next to it. I had to give 10,000 Poké for some IQ points.

"You women are all the same!" I barked. "Treat a guy to a dinner and make him pay ten thousand for some gummis! Well you know what? I don't _need_ your gummis!"

The whole time, I couldn't help but smile.

. . .

After the dinner meeting with my friend and warrior companion, I did end up doing a quest to see if it improved my mood. Floor 11's dungeon was actually factory-based as well. Machines that couldn't be messed with, as they were purely for decoration, ran in the background. Electric- and Steel-type Pokémon were running amok within the dungeon's interior.

The quest actually came along during a stroll through the dungeon. The NPC I had found on floor 15 of the factory wanted to return home, so I let the NPC Pichu use an Escape Orb and we both beamed to the edge of town. It was then that he realized he left an item somewhere on one of the lower floors. I had to return to the dungeon and climb all the way back to the twelfth floor just to find the Plain Seed my customer had wanted.

When I picked up the seed and stashed it in my inventory, I heard the clanging of a nearby battle. I told the menu that I wanted to remain in the dungeon, which was fine since I had another orb with me. I ran through, defeating Pikachu and Magnemite, to find the source of the noise.

I run through another hallway and struggled to see due to the dim lighting of the factory and my limited vision in the game. I made it to a large room and saw five Pokémon. Two of them had the green friendly cursors, but the other three were spawned monsters. I debated on whether or not to help them; they could hate me with a passion, but when I heard their desperate need for help, I couldn't resist.

I used Force Palm on a Magnemite coming their way. I didn't want them to be swarmed with more angry monsters. I killed an Electrike as well. Once I made it to the five, I was able to put names to them. There was a Cubone, a Dewott, two spawned Magnemite, and a refrigerator. Wait…a fridge?

Cubone finally used Bonemerang to hit Magnemite, knocking it down to its Sturdy ability. The bone he threw went flying away, but it eventually came back and knocked the Magnemite clean out. Cubone jumped up, grabbed the bone, and landed powerfully on the ground. The Pokémon was peculiar; its tan body was offset by the large skull sitting on its shoulders. I knew the stories about the Pokémon, but if they were randomly generated, possibly to suit one's personality or abilities, what does that mean for this Cubone?

Dewott was more of an otter, somewhat like the sea weasel friend I used to have. He looked much more ninja-like, though. His light blue skin had a darker blue fur sitting on its legs. In that fur, there were two scalchops. Dewott grabbed one of them and zipped up to the Magnemite despite his type advantage. He used Razor Shell, slicing its HP bar into the red with a critical hit, and landed to the left of the enemy. Magnemite's defense stat fell, causing a blue rain-like animation to come over him.

In return, Magnemite used Thunder Wave. It unleashed a wave of electricity that hit and paralyzed Dewott from the back. Cubone rammed it with a Bone Club attack, slamming his bone down on the creature, and it exploded. I watched in awe as the two quickly tried to recover from the fight.

They didn't see the Rotom-Frost sitting behind them. The Pokémon had opened its refrigerator doors, the purple electric outline spreading around its machine, and started giggling. It used a strong Blizzard attack that brought Cubone into the red and Dewott dangerously close. They both fell over, but Dewott's leg was now frozen in a thick chunk of ice. His mobility was gone and Cubone couldn't attack a Pokémon with Levitate. I didn't even know Rotom could spawn here.

I jumped in and used Force Palm on the strong Pokémon, making it focus on me. Cubone and Dewott watched as I dodged a Blizzard attack and hit it with a Quick Attack, though the attack didn't do enough to knock it into the red. It was still sitting in the yellow.

I started running toward the refrigerator so I could Force Palm it again, but it used Charge Beam to deplete my HP by a significant chunk. Its Special Attack stat rose, the rain effect reversing. I landed my Force Palm, but a sliver of its health was still stuck. This Pokémon's defense was amazing.

I dodged another Charge Beam, and then a Blizzard, and rolled on the ground to avoid any other attacks, but I need a priority attack that would hit hard enough. I hated using this move, and I'm going to replace it to conceal my beta tester background, but I figured it was worth it to save these two Pokémon.

I started running to the Rotom-Frost. Its refrigerator doors opened—it was planning to finish me off with Blizzard. It sucked in air and began cooling it down. I knew I needed to hurry. I ran even faster. I could feel my fists both turn metallic and heavy. The Blizzard was about to come. I ducked down and slammed the Pokémon with an iron fist that knocked it into shards and gave the three of us decent experience. When the match was done, my hands turned regular again and I slumped to the ground to get an Oran Berry to eat.

I healed up and realized Cubone and Dewott were still watching me.

"How did you do that?" Cubone asked.

"That Rotom must have been one of those rare spawns," Dewott told us.

I nodded. I knew from the early floors that there was a small chance of a rarer, harder-to-beat Pokémon showing up. On floor one, it was only a Metapod, but here it was apparently a Rotom form.

"Are you okay?" I asked the two Pokémon.

I gave both an Oran Berry and offered Dewott a Heal Seed. They ate up to recover health and sat down in an attempted triangle-shape. I felt obligated to finish the triangle, so I sat down with them for just a minute.

"What level are you?" Cubone wondered.

I looked in my menu and discovered I was already at level 23. I had been fighting all day and so I guessed that Rotom helped me level up. They both seem impressed by the number and begin to describe their own experiences.

"We're both at level 21," Dewott explained. "We both wanted to catch up to the ground and get an LA one day, so we temporarily partnered up. Don't think we're buddies running together in a mystery dungeon; it's not like that. We usually go it alone."

I couldn't help but chuckle and Dewott's attempt to impress me. "Trust me, being with a partner isn't a bad idea in this game. My team…" I stopped.

They both nodded. "We know who you are. Fletchinder may have the guilds convinced, but most of the solos in the raid aren't mad."

I knew they were familiar! Both Pokémon were frequent frontline battlers. They were in the last raid, so they must have seen me attack that Ditto on my own earlier. I hoped they would dodge the attempt in interviewing me, and I was relieved when they did.

"Well," I began, "I should probably get back into town. I was just doing a quest."

Cubone got to his feet and shook his head. "Please, Riolu, accompany us to the twentieth floor. That's the rest stop area—once we get there, everyone can get there. We're the only ones in the dungeon right now because all the guilds are sleeping. We want to make it that far so we can beat the boss in a few days."

Floor 20 was only eight away, so I agreed to go with them for a little while longer. This was the first time I had actually initiated a conversation in I don't know when. I couldn't exactly get one out for Buneary, but these guys somehow remind me of myself or something.

. . .

Floor 18 felt like the one hundredth by the time we got to it. There were so many Magnemite floating around that I was using Max Elixirs like crazy. Once we got up there, I spotted a yellow gummi and ate it. Despite the fact that I ate a million of my favorite gummis not too long ago, this one apparently gave me just the points I needed to upgrade to a new Team Skill—"Danger Seeking." The special skill was described as a Monster House locator. This would have come in handy back with my other friends, with Whismur and Buizel, but I was at least happy to have a detection for them now.

We climbed the marble stairs up to the nineteenth floor and my skill started flashing an MH sign on my menu. It was supposed to be in a large room to our right. I told my companions and, after they asked me how I knew and everything, we managed to dodge the Monster House. We could probably take them all on with just the three of us, but we just wanted to go up one more floor.

I wished so badly to peek in and see what kind of experience I could be getting. I told them I'd be right back and went to the edge of the room. I just needed to enter the short hallway, look in, and run from the spawned creatures.

When I peeked at the hallway's darkness, I saw the silhouette of a Pokémon—a Sableye. I rubbed my eyes and it was gone. Had I imagined it? I couldn't tell. Whatever the case, my adrenaline was pumping and I busted my way into the Monster House.

"Riolu?!" Cubone called. "What are you doing?"

Dewott started behind me and caught up to join me in the Monster House room. Cubone reluctantly lagged behind. We could hear his worried whispering as we walked in.

Sableye was nowhere to be seen, but eight Electrike spawned right in front of me. I told the other two to go back, to retreat, but they stayed by my side. I was sort of happy, but I didn't want them to be put in danger. Cubone and I KO'd the Pokémon while Dewott ran around to collect items. Many Electric attacks shot at Dewott, but Cubone stretched his bone to absorb the attack and cause the electricity to run though him and go into the ground. I jumped on Cubone's head with one foot and used it to boost myself into the air to knock out the last remaining Electrike with a strong Quick Attack.

When we were done, we were all huffing and coughing. The room wasn't hard, but it wasted our energy. Luckily, the steps ended up being in this room, so I wasn't completely crazy for going in. Still, though, Dewott and Cubone looked at me with suspicion. I didn't know if they were mad or concerned, but I imagined a mixture of both.

"What's wrong with you? Are you nuts?" Cubone squealed.

"No," I said. "I thought I saw someone…someone who's been harassing me this whole game."

"Harassing you?" Dewott repeated questioningly. He glanced at Cubone and focused back on me. "Explain."

"Well, back in the beta test, this Sableye tortured us, us being Fighting-types, for the fun of it. I asked Combusken about a stalker and she said a Sableye asked about me back on the earlier floors. I've been seeing his face and silhouette ever since. I'll admit that it has been driving me sorta crazy," I sighed.

Dewott nodded. "Cubone, we've seen something like this before."

My curiosity kicked in and I begged to be clued in on their inside conversation.

Cubone ushered us to start walking to the steps and continued the explanation. "It sounds to me like you're be iced."

I was confused. "Iced?"

"'Iced' is just an expression we made up. It means you're one of the victims of the Black Ice guild."

Dewott looked around for eavesdropping and then acted more secretive in his speaking. "It's known by a few for its mischief. We had a friend, a Pignite, that recently had a problem like that. A Lampent came from the shadows and absorbed Pignite's Normal-,Fire-, and Fighting-type moves. It was powerless and, well, he was killed by a Monster House a few days back. It's been rough without him, but we've pulled through.

I was shocked. This Black Ice guild has been targeting others as well? And, somehow, Sableye was connected to this guild. Perhaps he was its ringleader. I wasn't sure how to reply, but I thanked them for the information once we made it to the twentieth floor.

"Thanks," Cubone panted as we ran up the last step. "Thanks for helping us get here. This'll make the next boss battle happen quicker."

I nodded and went toward the green portal leading back to town. As I parted with my friends, Dewott grabbed my arm. I looked back to see both of them giving me an assuring smile.

"Wait! Riolu," Dewott said. "We don't believe in what they're all saying. You're not a bad person, beta or not. That doesn't make you a criminal.

Cubone agreed. "We're sorry about your party. You'll do better by yourself. Going solo provides fewer…distractions."

I knew he was right. Friendship, love, sympathy—all useless responsibilities hindering my full potential. I had lost my friends and I had to accept that. It's time to move on. I had to put my opinions, my own survival, above everything else. It wasn't about everyone surviving. That's already too late. I needed to move on.

I stepped into the portal, waved, and dematerialized from the dungeon. Cubone and Dewott kept looking at the portal as I disappeared. I wondered if they wanted me to come back.

Either way, the rest of the day was dull. I claimed my prize, which ended up being a Ring Target. Later that day, I sent a message to Combusken. There were two goals I had created myself. I would find the Black Ice guild members, and I would find Sableye. I had to find out why these people were toying with my emotions and mind. I had to find out why they chose me. And I wanted to find out now.


	6. Chapter 6 - Laogai Lake

November 19th, 2025

Floor 14

Three floors ago, I learned about the guild named "Black Ice." It haunted my mind to the point where I feel like a bounty hunter or hitman. I've followed every trace, every mention, of the Black Ice guild. I looked for Sableye for days, some without sleep. However, he always eluded me. I haven't had a good night's sleep in I don't know how long. Not only that, but my self-esteem is at an all-time low. During battle with the thirteenth floor's boss, which was my first collaboration with the raid party since the early floors, Fletchinder tried to lead the monster into killing me. It almost worked, but no one wants to convict him of such a crime. He's one of the most respected members of the Flying Fighters now; he's up there with Swellow and Pidgeotto in terms of rank.

Me? I haven't even gotten a "good job on clearing the floor" or "thanks for saving my life" comment, let alone the idea that they would ask me to join them. No one wants a Pokémon with _that_ kind of reputation. I was on my own.

Here on Floor 14, also known as "Laogai Lake," I've remained hidden. I had bought a dull-grey cloak earlier today to mask my identity. I didn't want Cubone and Dewott to see me, either. And I wasn't sure about Buneary.

My lengthy depression has now blurred with my Black Ice obsession. I've started following people and I can't stop. The other day, I stayed close behind a Clefairy for quite a few minutes, but I had to stop when she got suspicious. I was even stalking Combusken, but I didn't want her to know I was following her. I didn't think she did, but she was almost completely a mystery.

Right now, I was following a Frillish. The pink-colored Pokémon was floating toward the lake and looking back in paranoia. Everyone had a reason for paranoia, especially me, and I wanted to know hers. Frillish was floating away from the town and toward the large lake, which was a major attraction for many players—and oddly many people on the raid team, too. I didn't see Buneary there.

I rounded a curve and waited a few minutes to let Frillish get the lead again, but when I came walking forward, she was gone. All that was left was the large lake and the tourists around it. Nearby, I saw an NPC selling small canoes for a hefty price. I knew it was a rip-off, but I bought a canoe and pushed it off the wooden dock and into the clear lake water. I hopped on the orange boat and steadied my balance. I dipped my oar into the water and watched the ripples as I paddled away.

The water was an amazing reflection of cleanliness; I hadn't seen water this purified since the very beginning of the first floor. It reminded me of the day the creator came down and explained our fates in this death game. The Arkaés region was filled with nostalgia of all sorts; familiar smells reminded me of home and gave me a small boost to beating the game. The same sensations, whether from touch or taste, gave me comfort.

I knew I was in some hospital room. I was hooked up to a bunch of machines with this silly Nintendo Vii stuck on my head. My body was going to deteriorate if this takes long. I could see my sister breaking down if that were to happen.

The only plus was that most floors had warmer weather, including this one. The lake always had a temperature in the eighties, so it was always nice and relaxing. In future floors, I was sure blizzards and ice storms were a thing. I'd just have to wait and see.

I kept paddling in my canoe and made it to the other side of the large body of water. I docked it with my menu, causing a rope to connect it to one of the poles, and left it there for a little while. On this side of the lake, there were fewer people. Not many would make the effort to come this way, but there was definitely a reward in the privacy it offered.

I noticed in my menu that a small red dot was bleeping. It was the sign of a distress signal. Startled, I saw that it wasn't in the fourteenth floor's dungeon. Actually, no one was able to even _find_ the dungeon for this floor. Everyone was enjoying the lake more than the dangers of the dungeon.

I kept walking along the lakeside and eventually came to a large group of Pokémon dancing to some sort of music. I hadn't heard it before, but the quality was obviously new—was this song created for the system or was it from the radio? Was it possible to communicate? I wasn't sure, but I imagined True Reality controlled what we heard.

The Pokémon were dancing in all sorts of styles, many of them completely embarrassing. I couldn't help but smirk when I saw some of them moving their quadruped bodies around like a fish.

One Pokémon stood out from the rest; she had this amazing beauty to her. I recognized the Pokémon from one of my Unova play-throughs: it was a Gothita. I went into my in-menu Pokédex and looked at her evolved forms. I was level 29 on this floor, and I hadn't evolved yet (but that wasn't due to my level, that's for sure), and even I was shocked to learn she doesn't evolve until level 32. I looked at Gothorita's picture and was shocked by its beautiful image. Now that I was a Pokémon, I felt drawn to other Pokémon—it was weird.

This girl was someone I wanted to be around. I imagined the fun we'd have, the tricks we'd play, and then suddenly realized I'm not known for being smooth. Actually, I'm known for being a murderer. As if a great weight was added to my shoulders, I was brought to the harsh reality that no one likes me. In that one second that I imagined everything, I was able to look away in the next.

"Hey!"

I heard a voice so feminine and energetic that my heart jumped. I turned around to see the Pokémon I was fantasizing about standing right in front of me. She was still dancing, but she was grabbing at my hand.

"Huh?" I muttered.

"Come on! You look like you need some dancing," she smiled.

Gothita's small lips opened in small angles as she talked. The white bowtie and bows in her hair were adorable on such a small Pokémon, and she had a pink face that shined bright in the sunlight. I didn't say anything. I felt sweat bead up on my forehead. I could barely talk to Buneary, and she was like one of the bros. Wasn't she? I started getting flustered. I wasn't sure of anything in that moment.

"Come _on!_ And take that stupid cloak off." she grabbed my blue paw and pulled.

"Okay," I choked.

She pulled me into the group of dancing Pokémon and continued with her arm movements. She smiled at me as she started getting into her dance, whatever it was called. It was completely awkward. I watched her in skepticism as she urged me to move my body around. I wasn't a dancer—in fact, I wasn't much of anything outside of video games.

"I can't dance," I said pathetically.

Gothita hung her small jaw open in distaste. She shook her head slightly and grabbed my hand. "This isn't your body, so don't be so afraid. Have some fun!"

The Fixation Pokémon grabbed my hands and started moving them about. She stepped on my foot hard and made me do the dance everyone else was doing. We moved our arms and hips in awkward positions that I hated. I knew the routine after the third or fourth try, but I was shaky and pathetic and honestly didn't want to be there. However, I was doing it for her. Why? Why was I letting this random girl get me out and embarrass myself?

"So, how old are you?" she asked loudly as she tried to speak over the music.

"Sixteen," I yelled back.

She smiled at my weak social skills. "Ooh, a young boy. I'm seventeen, but I guess I'll let you hang out with me," she winked.

I blushed. I felt the blush burn through my cheeks and melt my heart. Who was this girl?

"I'm actually looking for something," I said as I made the next few movements with my feet.

"What is that?" she asked as she repeated my movements. "Hey, you're not bad once you aren't all stiff!"

"Thanks," I said as I focused off the topic. "Anyway, I'm looking for whoever sent this distress signal."

Gothita stopped dancing, so I did the same. She opened her menu and saw the red dot blinking. She grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the crowd of dancers. I was relieved; I knew she was dancing in front of me so that I was hidden from the others, but I didn't let that bother me now.

"I didn't even know someone sent that," she whispered once we couldn't hear the music too well.

"It had to be a recent signal," I explained, "because I just noticed it a few minutes ago."

"Where is it coming from? I'm coming, too. I'm a level 26, so I can handle this dungeon easily," she said.

I smirked. "I'm at level 29, but I guess I'll let you hang out with me." I knew that phrase was pretty smooth…I thought.

Gothita opened her mouth in a smile. "You're pretty good," she nodded. "Not bad."

After adding her to my party, I walked her over to the boat and we kicked off from the dock. We began paddling toward the other side of the lake again as Gothita noticed the signal was growing stronger. As we got to the center of the lake, the red was nearly blinding. We kept going to the other side of the lake and saw the signal fade.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," I finally admitted. "Let's go back to the middle of the lake—I have an idea."

I stood on one of my knees and angled my legs so I that I could paddle easier with the oar. We made it to the dead center of Laogai Lake and saw the signal brighten to that same blinding intensity. We looked around, but it was only water around the area. I looked into the water and smiled upon realizing the riddle.

"What directions can we go at this very point?" I asked.

Gothita put a small hand to her lips and thought. "We can go in any radius of this spot, but it's not as strong. We can't just go up into the sky," she thought.

"But…?" I hinted.

"But we _can_ go down—down in the lake!"

We looked in the clear water and saw a green color shine down at the bottom of the lake. The green emanating from below was the sign of a portal—the connection between the floor and its dungeon. The fourteenth floor dungeon was under the lake!

"I'm not going down in that water," she said with a shake of the head.

"Wynaut?" I joked.

"Because, little boy, I'd rather not get my hair wet."

I snorted. "You're a Pokémon. An avatar. Why does it matter if you get your fake hair wet?"

Gothita grabbed my yellow collar and pulled it to her face. She smiled, obviously holding her anger back, and looked in my eyes. "Are you saying you can't feel anything?"

I shrugged. "I mean, sure, but it doesn't mean anything. Just get in the water so we can save that person already."

Gothita pulled me in closer by the collar and moved in. She put her pink lips against mine and held them there for a moment. Her face was warm, warmer than the late spring temperature. Her lips were soft and forceful at the same time. She pulled away, wiped her mouth from the kiss, and looked at my red, immobile face.

"Did that mean anything to you?"

"I…"

I was about to ask her why she did that, but she pushed my collar away and caused me to tip the canoe over into the water. I fell in the water for a moment, reactionless, and eventually moved toward the portal once my breathing was limited. Had that really happened? It felt like I had imagined it. I mean, I felt the kiss, but _dang._ I actually felt that.

I entered the portal with an internal scream for breath. I was beamed into the dungeon and fell on my stomach and face on the stone floor. We were in some sort of underwater cave. I saw Gothita a short distance away and got to my feet as she recovered. The cave was dark, but luckily our automatic vision allowed us to see a short radius around us. If we had the move Flash, that would be even better…but we don't.

"What kind of Pokémon do you think are down here?" she asked.

"I have a feeling this is a Grass-type's experience jackpot," I murmured. "Caves have Rock-type Pokémon, and underwater caves probably have Water-types as well. There could be bats or something, but I have a feeling it's mainly just those two."

We went through the dungeon and picked off Psyduck and Corsola. The occasional Zubat was found, but I was pretty accurate in my evaluation. The dungeon was crowded with Water- and Rock-types. I zipped through the latter with my Force Palm attacks while Gothita covered the Water-types with her Charge Beam attack. Soon enough, I leveled up to 30 and she made it up to just two levels behind me.

On floor ten, I sensed a Monster House nearby. We decided to avoid it since we were seeing Golbat on these higher floors. Golbat had decent stats, a typing good against mine, and some Dark-type moves that scared Gothita.

"Now that we're in the dungeon," Gothita explained, "we should check the distress signal."

"That's a good idea," I agreed.

It turned out that the Pokémon was trapped on the fifteenth floor of this dungeon. With just a few floors to go, I told Gothita to get as many berries as she could hold in case there's big trouble.

"You know," she said after some walking. "It's weird. You think the distress signal would have disappeared by now. He would have made it to the next floor or, you know, worse things could have happened."

She had a point. The distress signal was mainly just for exploration parties already on the floor that could help if a neighboring raid party was having trouble making it up. Also, it made it easier to locate members of a guild if it's separated in the dungeon. The distress signal was relatively new; in the lower floors, there wasn't a real need for the signal since guilds weren't established. Now, though, locating a member of a group was easier than ever.

"I wonder what that means," I said aloud, but she shrugs.

We kept walking after I defeated a Kabuto that guarded the stairs. During the whole trip, we never really felt afraid; these Pokémon weren't hard to beat. Any Pokémon that wasn't pure Fire-type could handle it with relative ease. I breezed through it pretty quick, but we were only on floor thirteen of possibly thirty or forty something. We weren't going to go all the way, of course. After saving the fallen Pokémon, we'd head back.

"So, kiddo, tell me why you're so down," Gothita asked once we started walking again.

I was startled. Was my depression so obvious? Maybe she was asking about my lack of dancing, or maybe my focus on the journey. I wasn't sure, but her almost-psychic abilities startled me.

"Wha?"

She straightened her face. "What's wrong with you? Did you lose someone?"

I thought for a moment before shaking my head. "I lost my friends and my reputation."

"What happened?"

She shot an electric beam from her hands and defeated a Poliwag that snuck up behind me.

"My best friend's sister died while in my care and I only worried about myself right after. I let everyone else leave me so I could cry about it, and now I'm a solo player. The very type of player that usually dies."

Gothita went up to me and hugged my arm. I felt tempted to pull it back; physical contact made me feel queasy. However, I took the hug and almost felt like hugging around her neck, but I stopped myself before losing my cool.

"It sounds like you just need to talk to him. You seem to be willing to admit your mistakes, so he should accept your apology. After all, you didn't kill her yourself. You probably got overwhelmed or something."

"Yes! That's exactly what happened. I'm being stalked by an apparent serial killer," I told her.

"Okay, now you're freaking me out," Gothita chuckled.

I felt a little embarrassed. It did sound silly, but it was the honest truth. Sableye was driving me insane. I feel like I'm passing my breaking point with every town we go up.

"We need to be careful," I remind the both of us. "This Pokémon could be a victim of PVP."

"PVP? You mean another player attacking you? Why would someone do that?"

I shook my head. "I'm not sure, but the guild is called Black Ice. They've tried to kill me several times already."

Her eyebrows sunk toward her eyebrows. "This is a lot to process…you mean we're not even safe from each other anymore? Riolu, I'm not dumb, but this seems a little much."

"I'm being serious!" I insisted.

We entered the fourteenth floor and began scanning for the stairs. I kept walking and stepped on some Toxic Spikes that were hidden by the water's puddles. I held my foot up in the air after escaping the spikes and ate a Pecha Berry so that I wouldn't suffer from poisoning.

"Watch out for traps," she giggled.

"Funny," I said with distaste.

We kept walking through one of the long hallways and eventually encountered several Pokémon in a row. Each of them went down by a Force Palm, so we were forced to stop so I could ingest some Max Elixirs and gain PP again.

"I wonder if the fifteenth floor is going to be hard," she said.

"You mean of the dungeon or of the whole thing?"

She thought for a second. "Both. But since we have you, Riolu, I feel a bit safer. You're really strong and you haven't even evolved. All that smack I was talking in the boat," she stopped as she looked at the ground in shame. "It was all cover. I was rejected from the raid team a few floors ago because I hadn't evolved and I wasn't quite strong enough. I've been training and training so I could make a difference, but…"

"I know what you mean by evolution," I nodded. "I almost had the happiness I needed, but everything went downhill on floor nine and my happiness is only at about 100 now. I still have a long way to evolve and everyone else is gaining stat boosts and stronger attacks. I'm still here, a little two-legged dog, and I'm fighting to stay relevant."

Gothita looked at me deeply and asked me a serious question. "What's your best boss battle?"

I breathed in deeply. "Floor ten's boss, the Ditto. I beat that one all by myself and defeated it in minutes."

Her eyes grew big. "You're the Speeding Bullet?"

Speeding Bullet? I was confused. No one had called me that. It sounded like something you'd call an overly-excited Beldum. I told her I didn't know what she meant and she put a hand to her mouth.

"No wonder you're so strong…I've heard rumors about you. It's all coming together now: the dark reputation, the crazy strength, and even the boss battle you talked about. Tell me: were you a beta tester?"

I nodded my head without speaking. I wasn't sure what she was talking about, but she sure was. Gothita spoke to herself inaudibly and I tried to follow her internal reasoning, but I'm not a lip reader, let alone a woman reader.

"You're a beta tester known for your power, and this guild is probably jealous of you in some way. Do you do anything that would make someone seem overshadowed?"

I thought for a second. "I get most of the Last Attack bonuses and usually the credit for beating the bosses, too. I do most of the work while everyone else heals me or does minor damage."

Her eyes brightened with understanding. "Your friend's sister died because someone doesn't want you to evolve. If you aren't happy, you aren't going to be as strong when everyone else is fully evolved. Therefore, you won't be much of a contender in the harder floors. Someone wants to sabotage your reputation."

I felt stupid for not realizing this. "So you're saying Sableye wasn't trying to kill me back then, but rather destroy my relationships?"

"Right! They used your power to do most of the work so that Black Ice thing could get stronger. They don't need you anymore, so they're ruining you. They want to get rid of everyone you love and care for."

"Why not just kill me, then?" I asked.

She shook her head. "I don't know. That seems like the easier thing to do…oh, sorry," she said after realizing how insulting she sounded.

"Let's just climb up the stairs and save this person, then," I suggested.

"Okay, Speeding Bullet. By the way, why that name?" she asked.

I sighed. "My egg move was Bullet Punch."

"Was?"

"I got rid of it. I don't want anyone knowing my identity…that's why I was wearing a cloak earlier."

"Well you shouldn't have gotten rid of your egg move like that. I bet it'll come in handy later."

"Quick Attack is just as strong," I shrugged.

We went up the stairs and finally made it to the fifteenth floor. However, this floor was not a dungeon floor: it was one of the rest areas designated to heal up, save progress, and possibly escape the dungeon if needed. This was especially odd—a distress signal in the most peaceful room in the dungeon? Perhaps he needed items, but then he could just go to the store without even battling anything else. What's going on?

When we were beamed to the floor, we were projected into the air and fell in one of the shallow water puddles on the ground. I rubbed my face hard and slowly got up to see a decently large rest area.

"Let's try to keep quiet," I suggested.

We stood up and walked in the direction of the distress signal. It was just a few yards away.

"Hello?" I called.

Suddenly, I see a flash of pink as two beady blue eyes erupt from the darkness. They quickly turned to a red color as we heard murmuring from slightly under them.

"There is no evil in this reality. Here, we are safe. Here, we are free," she whispered.

Gothita and I eventually attained the Confused status. I knew that Pokémon was using Confuse Ray, but why was she speaking like that. I struggled to escape the confusion, but I heard Pokémon falling from the ceiling. Gothita and I scrambled about, hitting each other and the walls, and couldn't walk in the direction we wanted to.

"There is no evil in this reality," the voice repeated.

"Here, we are safe," Gothita said hypnotically. "Here, we are free."

I couldn't handle the confusion and stumbled over, losing my footing and tripping over one of the legs of an unseen Pokémon. I couldn't find a light, a berry, anything. I landed on my face in the green portal and was beamed out of the dungeon.

I woke up in my canoe along the beach of the dance party. It was late now; the sun was going behind the trees. I must have drifted back from the green portal because I'd otherwise already be in it to return to the dungeon. However, it's completely gone. I couldn't return. My memory was hazy, very hazy, but I knew Gothita was in trouble. Fresh out of supplies, I'd have to get to the store before I could go safe Gothita. I wriggled my boat off the sand bank and eventually made it back to the lakeside town.

. . .

Walking through a dark town was somewhat comforting. You knew the worst someone could do was follow you to the Kecleon Market. As such, I walked in my cloak to buy some more Oran Berries. As I approached the market, I got a message from Gothita:

"We both made it out alive and we're heading down to floor one without Escape Orbs. Want to meet there?"

That was odd: why meet in the dungeon itself? I was confused, but shrugged and replied that I'd be there. No need to buy Oran Berries then. I began walking back to the lake when I accidentally ran into a body. I turned to apologize and noticed it was a distressed Cubone, his skull bobbing loosely from his head.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Dewott's been missing for a while and I can't find the dungeon he was in. He sent a distress signal, but no one knows where the portal is. Now it's gone and I'm worried," he explained.

I smiled. "Don't worry, I know someone who just rescued Dewott. I'm going to meet her now. Want to join?"

He shook his head. "I'm not going in that lake at night. I saw you over there and thought you were crazy. If that's where the portal is, forget it."

I nodded in understanding and parted ways with my solo friend. I ran to the lake and, instead of buying another canoe, decided to swim to the middle of the lake. The cool water on my skin felt refreshing, but it was also nerve-wracking, too. I was worried about Gothita even though she sent the message. Sableye could be anywhere.

I made it to the portal and found myself being beamed, once again, to the underwater cave. I was projected into the dark room and flew through the rest of the map in order to find the two Pokémon. In one of the very last rooms, after various twists and turns, I found both of them lying on the ground next to the stairs. I had signaled a Monster House in one of the rooms and was relieved to learn it wasn't in this one. I went over to them, thinking they were tired, and found them both poisoned somehow.

"What happened?!" I screeched.

"It was a trap," Gothita whispered.

I scrambled for Pecha Berries in my bag. I got two pink ones out and gave one to Dewott and went to give one to Gothita. When I put the berry near her mouth, a small force field prevented the berry from going through. I'd seen the move only a few times in the game: Embargo. Usually, it was used on monsters carrying berries so Pokémon could take them before they were eaten. Now, though, this was used so that Gothita would die of poisoning. She couldn't use orbs or berries and she had only a sliver of HP left.

"Gothita," I whispered.

"It's too late now, ha-ha. I guess I was the next threat to your happiness."

"We just need to move a little bit so Embargo will wear off!" I cried out.

"It's too late. If I move now, I'll die of poisoning. I only have a minute, at most."

"Gothita," I shouted. "Stop saying stuff like that!"

Her body was purple and numb. Her face was swollen from the poisoning. "I want you to live your life like you did with me today. Don't keep yourself in that shell. Find your friend and make up with him. Fall in love—I could tell there's someone in your life. Enjoy your dancing while you can."

Tears were welling up now. "Gothita, we can do this! I'm sure Embargo will fade soon. Just help me get you up and you'll be fine!"

Dewott got up and recovered after eating an Oran Berry I gave him from my bag. Apparently their inventories were completely emptied. I gave Dewott an Escape Orb and kept trying to force my hand through for Gothita.

"Gothita, you can't die," I cried. "You can't. You actually made me feel like a regular person. You didn't treat me like I did something terrible! Why does every person I'm around die?"

She coughed from the poison. "Do me a favor, Riolu, and have some fun. This isn't your fault, trust me. It's mine." She grunted in pain. "My HP bar is about up, so you better listen good: that evil you were talking about is very real. But there's something else to it. I think Sableye—"

From outside the room, an Iron Thorn is hurled and pricks Gothita in the chest. It was just enough to take the rest of her HP away. As she shattered into a million pieces of glass, I turned around to face the attacker. It came from the room the Monster House was in. I noticed the alert I had was gone—the room was already triggered. Soon enough, seven Kabuto and Zubat began pouring into the room. Dewott rose to fight as I dodged every attack in order to find the killer.

As soon as I made it into the room, a blue Escape Orb portal let the murderer disappear in anonymity. The only thing left in the room was me. I raced back to Dewott and destroyed all the Kabuto in one hit each. The Zubat took a little more time, but we defeated them easily enough.

When all the attacking was over, Dewott apologized for not being able to save Gothita. He claimed to feel terrible about the whole thing and was completely lost other than just being saved.

"The only thing I remember was going into the lake for a swim, accidentally getting into the portal, and being kidnapped by something," he said, his memory strained. "I can't remember. It was something that chanted words to me. I became confused and sent out some distress signal, but they never killed me. They just kept me in there and waited."

I nodded. "You were bait. They knew I'd come here. Killing you was probably on the agenda first, but Gothita turned out to be a much more interesting move for them. My happiness is at 70 now; that's my base happiness. I don't think I'll ever evolve, and evolution is the reason Gothita is dead."

Dewott put a hand on my back. "It's not your fault, Riolu. You're just a victim."

"I almost got you killed, Dewott. I almost got you killed. It-it shouldn't be like that. I shouldn't have to worry about my friends dying like that."

Dewott smiled sympathetically. "How about we use some Escape Orbs to get out of this deathtrap, eh?"

I nodded and got my orb out. I looked one more time at where the Iron Thorn stuck the ground and saw a note attached to it. I grabbed the note and beamed myself to the surface with Dewott.

This time, we both were conscious and knew where we teleported from. There was a small green portal on the beach now, so I must have staggered out of the portal and landed in my boat. We were at ease in the no-PVP area and relaxed in the moonlight. I got the note and opened the folds.

"What's it say?" Dewott asked me.

I strained my eyes to read the letter. "If you're going to follow our trail, take your friends and you will fail. Quit your battling and don't think twice, or else you'll slip on some Black Ice."

On the letter, the letters "BI" are painted in black. It all seemed so…cheesy, so pointless, to bother with me. What have I ever done to cause anything? If these people felt so threatened by my power, why not kill me? Why the harassment?

"They're trying too hard," Dewott shrugged. "Hey, how about a high five for the survival of the dungeon? Gothita would want it."

The phrase stung since my temporarily love was now dead, but I nodded and slapped the hand of my blue friend. We smiled until I heard someone in the distance move. I looked behind me to see Buizel standing alone. He must have seen the high five. He got on all fours and ran into the water and went swimming away from me. I called out for him, wanting to embrace him, but he kept going.

I knew why. I was friends with a new Water-type, a new _otter_. It was a huge coincidence I had overlooked until now. I didn't mean for Buizel to think I'd replaced him. Despite Dewott's insistence that he needs time, I swam into the water desperately to find my first friend. Buizel was gone and I knew it would be very difficult to ever earn his friendship back. I made it to the other side and fell against the sandy beach area.

Maybe Gothita was right. Maybe I should just enjoy myself instead of worrying about the past. Battling has taken over my life. My own imagination distorted the reality I lived in. I'm not safe from myself, nor from my battling, and I'm not free from paranoia. But maybe, in this virtual reality, a reality where we all come together to enjoy life, we really were safe and free. The bosses have blinded me from appreciating my life.

I'm done with boss battles. That's not the most important thing in life now. Gothita _was_ right. I needed to treat myself to some happiness. I needed a break. I smiled, opened up my menu, and went to contact Buneary—even if it was one in the morning.


	7. Chapter 7 - Sableye's Illusion

December 3rd, 2025

Floor 16

The glittering diamonds chased me through the dungeon. I ran to the next floor and dodged a Shadow Ball, an ominous orb of ghostly purple energy, coming straight for me. I couldn't use Force Palm on it; the Ghost-typing made my best move ineffective. I dodged another one but was slammed with a Night Shade. The sandy exterior dungeon was covered in pitch-black coloration, like the black sand beaches in Hawaii. I was surrounded in darkness. I couldn't turn anywhere. I glanced back behind me, where the Sableye was, and can only see three objects—two blue diamonds and the most crooked, evil smile I could have ever imagined. I screamed, fell back into the dark sand, and let it engulf my body as I struggled to free myself from the grip of the Night Shade's clutches. The diamonds bounced back and forth as the mouth opened with laughter.

I woke up from my nightmare with a beach ball to the face. I fell out of my beach chair and into the hot, grainy sand. I let the sand run through my paws. I was still on the fourteenth floor, though the raid team cleared both this and the next floor bosses. Everyone was on the sixteenth floor, Anthill Peak—everyone that cared about advancement. I remained here with my partying friends. I smiled and threw the beach ball back toward those swimming in the lake. Having fun wasn't a crime, so why should I feel guilty about doing it? I needed some relaxing. Gothita would want it.

I closed my eyes and let the sunlight radiate on my blue skin. Yeah, it was already December in the real world, but it was nice and hot today. This would start my third week lying in the heat and enjoying every ray that couldn't burn my unchangeable avatar. Laogai Lake was a special place.

I suddenly felt a shadow cover the sun's comfort from my body. I figured it was just a few people talking, but when I felt several nudges to my face, I knew who it was. I peeked at my friend and smiled, but turned in my chair to get more comfortable.

"Get up, Riolu," Buneary said impatiently.

I stretched my arms and scratched my lower back. Why would I have to get up if I wasn't going to do anything? Black Ice has left me alone since I quit trying; all was good when I stayed on this floor.

" _Get up!_ " she screeched and pushed me into the sand once more. I spit a mouthful out and kept flicking my tongue to get the specks out. I ended up having to drink the rest of my water just so I didn't crunch the little grains. I remained seated in the steaming-hot sand.

"What?" I barked. "I told you, Buneary, I'm not helping you with the boss battles and all that junk."

Buneary squatted beside me but kept her body out of the dirt. She looked me dead in the eyes, a new ferocity shining through her previously appreciable qualities. "Listen up, you stupid idiot: I need your help."

"Pff, that's a first!" I laughed and put my hands behind my head in the sand.

Buneary flinched from the harshness of my words and kicked sand back on my face again. "Stop acting like some sort of…hippie…and listen to what I have to say! As second in command of the Golden Warriors forces, I _demand_ you to get up like a normal human being."

I rolled my eyes. Buneary had joined Scyther's guild after I told her to stop playing solo. I guessed my own suggestion bit me in the butt because I hated her position and reputation. She was the top-ranked guild member in all guilds and was the most sought-after battler, even ahead of me—but only because I quit, I imagined. The only thing Buneary lacked was the happiness to evolve. I wasn't sure why she hadn't already; she had everything. Wealth, power, reputation. I mean, I _definitely_ had a reputation, but not like that. The Speeding Bullet was rumored to be the strongest player, but also a mysterious murderer.

"Ooh, demanding! Does that come with the job or did you learn that yourself?" I jested.

Buneary remained emotionless. She appeared to be ashamed with how I'd ended up, and the look she gave me did hurt deeply. I knew I was a fighter, but after what had happened…maybe I knew wrong.

"Cut the crap, Rio, and just listen to me. Please? Then I'll let you cut up with the bums."

I smiled. "Sounds fair. What's up?"

Buneary sighed. "We found this in one of the floors of the sixteenth dungeon, known as the 'Ant Labyrinth.'"

She clicked her menu and brought up a screenshot of the game. She turned so I could look behind her and we both viewed the same black letters that I had seen earlier—BI. She closed her menu and I stood up accordingly.

"We blocked off the exits and he's still in there somewhere, whoever he is. That means that someone from the guild, whatever he was planning, is trapped. Are you up to catch him?"

I thought for a second, but, in honor of Gothita, I shrugged.

Buneary's mouth fell open. She reared her hand back and slapped me hard in the cheek. I stumbled from the blow and rubbed my sore cheek. She looked at me sternly and shook her head.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked. "What happened to the Riolu I fel—" Buneary stopped speaking and regretted going so far into the sentence. I didn't know what she was going to say, so I dumbly asked her.

"You what?"

"The Riolu I felt was strong enough to do anything," she quickly said.

Saying that seemed weird, but I let the sentence go. I told her more about Gothita and she only acted angry that I cared for the girl. Gothita was such a laid back, carefree person. I was envious of how much fun she had. As such, I danced in her honor for two whole weeks.

"Gothita died because of these people, you idiot! Why do you even care for her? She knew you for a day," Buneary said.

"We _kissed_ , Buneary!" I screamed.

Tears were almost visible in her eyes. "Kissing on the first day? Classy," she countered. "Why don't you just soak up the rays, then, and I'll handle this mission on my own. I don't need some stupid boy anyway. You'd just slow me down with your dumb attitude."

As she stomped away in anger, I felt terrible after a few seconds of satisfying fulfillment. I didn't want to help mostly because I didn't want to endanger anyone else. Black Ice made that clear. If I didn't give into their demands, then everyone would be in danger all over again.

Besides, being carefree had its perks. The beach partiers loved me. I even learned Bulk Up to impress the ladies, though none of them were the least bit interested in me.

. . .

"Did you set the trap?" a mysterious Pokémon messaged to his colleague. He waited a few minutes to get a reply, but each minute seemed dangerous to him. He couldn't be seen by anyone, let alone his worst enemy.

"Trap's set," he read from his screen.

He smiled. He remained in the shadows of a floor 16 building. The sunlight above glinted off his halo and made a crescent-shaped shadow on the ground. The crescent disappeared as he vanished into the shadows once the trap was set.

. . .

Three Days Later

The Pizza Pier was a favorite restaurant of the lakeside partiers. I myself enjoyed going there every few nights; eating a lot of pizza was always fun when it didn't go to your thighs. Tonight, I figured I'd join the boys and relax some more. I walked into the building, which was shaped like a triangular piece of pizza, and felt at home in the overall dark rooms with lights flashing everywhere.

I sat down at a table full of people and ordered a pizza nearby a Munchlax. He had just ordered his pizza, too. I looked away from him and thought about the case Buneary was trying to solve. Who gave the tip? Did she ask about that? I imagined how possible it was that everything was a trap—it was too obvious. Perhaps that was the point. I looked toward the dance floor. Gothita probably loved dancing on the multi-colored tiled stage area where Pokémon danced and drank Moomoo Milk. I chuckled as a Psyduck attempted to swerve its hips.

My pizza arrived at the same time as Munchlax's. We both grabbed a slice and stuck it in our mouths whole. I finished swallowing and went for the next slice as Munchlax did the same.

"What's the deal, buddy?" I asked while chewing.

"Are you trying to compete with me?" he asked, pizza flying everywhere.

I felt a surge of adrenaline go through my body. "You aren't competition, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, ho, ho!" Munchlax smiled. He looked back at some friends and called them over. "Boys, it looks like we have an eat-off!"

I smirked as everyone rooted for Munchlax. I moved over opposite of him and we ordered more pizzas than I would have liked to pay for. We quickly began shoving them in our mouths. After several minutes, Munchlax stopped and watch me basically toss slices into my mouth. I chomped down on my last piece and saw he still had a pizza left. I raised a fist in victory as the Pokémon, a natural eater, fell to the ground. I then ran to the bathroom to vomit.

I tripped over the tiles and just barely missed splashing my face in the toilet. I put my mouth above the hole and let all the pizza I wasted away come out into the toilet. It was weird; I didn't know getting sick like this was possible—I knew vomiting was a sign of emotional grief that was programmed in the game, but from eating too much? As I kept puking, I heard the bathroom door open. I turned around and wiped the puke from my mouth as a familiar person came up to me.

Bastiodon and Lairon entered the room and kept a small distance between them. Bastiodon greeted me awkwardly and I turned back toward the toilet to let more pizza flow freely. This partying thing was hard.

Another figure emerged from the hallway. The Golden Warriors' leader, Lord Scyther himself, walked in between the defensive Pokémon and raised his eyebrows at my vomiting. He cleared his throat and I turned back around and slouched against the bathroom wall.

"Good to see you're your usual self," he noted without a sense of amusement in his joke.

"Hey, tightwad," I said back.

He ignored my insult. "I require your cooperation," he asked informally.

This time, I raised my eyebrows. "Or what?"

Scyther rolled his eyes at the attitude I answered back with. "Or Buneary will die at the hands of the Black Ice guild. She told you about the dungeon, yes?"

My heart stopped for a moment. "Yes," I said solemnly.

"She hasn't returned," Scyther said, admiring his scythes as he spoke. "She's my finest member, as you know, and I'd love to have her back."

I felt a surge of annoyance flow through my body. "You have a whole guild. Why didn't you go?"

Scyther looked at me, his eyes half-open, as if I was but a nuisance to his existence. "Because they want you. For whatever reason, those fiends requested your presence in the dungeon."

A cold shiver ran up my spine. I sent Buneary into trouble and now they wanted me to come see her die. I wouldn't be able to handle the guilt of her death. Sableye was going to pay for even attempting such a threat. I agreed to go with him and a few others. I swallowed the remaining vomit and went to get ready for the dungeon I had to visit.

. . .

Anthill Peak was hot and sandy, but not like Laogai Lake was—it was scalding hot to my feet and completely _boring._ All the buildings were made of compacted sand. Everything was so desert-based and boring. The dungeon entrance was in the middle of town—a very, very large hole leading into the Ant Labyrinth. Everyone was panicking and scrambling around the city; the dungeon was too dangerous to explore and rumors of fake Black Ice members were spreading like wildfire. I even heard someone suggest that I was a member myself, but that was too obvious a lie in my eyes to even sound legitimate.

Scyther wanted me to accompany him in about one hour. Before I go into the dungeon, I knew I needed to buy some materials. This journey wouldn't be easy; I heard the previous dungeon had 43 floors, and they have been gradually increasing in difficulty by random increments. I walked by a Gabite standing on a stage above a crowd of Pokémon. I decided to listen to his speech, but I caught the latter half.

"You must be aware of the evil guild! The Speeding Bullet has claimed for months that there is an evil in this game, but we ignored his warnings! Now we must pay the price! I don't want to get stuck in some dungeon with murderers!"

I couldn't help but raise my voice in the crowd and throw up ideas for Gabite to speak about. "Sableye is evil!" I shouted in a random voice.

"Death to Sableye!" I squealed in a more feminine one.

"I heard Sableye is a thief and murderer!"

After making my own impression on the gathered meeting, I ran out before anyone connected me to the voices. It was my duty to make sure everyone knew the real killer. I eventually made it to one of the many TM markets and decided to take a look around.

Inside, the building was actually air-conditioned. A red rug covered most of the sandy floor. I went to one of the item shelves and click its button on the menu. A list of items came up for me to purchase, all of them as inexpensive as a soda with the amount of money I had saved up. I bought the TMs for Brick Break, Payback, and Bulldoze for some more variety in my learnset. This was one of the first floors that actually had good TMs, too.

However, the only move that was ranked decently was Brick Break; the other two moves weren't used to their potential. Pokémon were disappointed by Payback's inability to be powerful if used first. They couldn't wait a turn because of mere impatience when the payoff was usually decent. Bulldoze was weak, yes, but it offered a speed boost against Pokémon like Sableye that would run away from you. It wasn't only about a move's power, but its abilities outside the norm.

Anyway, I completed my learnset after keeping Bulk Up. I was becoming a formidable threat, however I couldn't wait to get moves like Aura Sphere or Close Combat. Those are the really powerful attacks.

After finishing my purchases with berries and orbs, I returned to the Ant Labyrinth entrance and saw Scyther, Houndoom, and Grovyle standing ahead. I joined them and we jumped down into the hole, which led to the teleporter below.

. . .

I fought on my own in the dungeon. I went ahead of the trio and never requested for their help. Scyther detested this independence, but I knew he had to ignore it and let me play my own role in saving my friend. The only Pokémon in this dungeon were Trapinch and Durant, the former being infamous for its trapping abilities and the latter for its surprising speed and strength.

I ran through the ant tunnel and dodged a Crunch attack from Trapinch. I used Brick Break, which obliterated the Pokémon into shards with little effort. I was impressed by Brick Break's ability. After a Durant nearly depleted my HP with Metal Claw, I used Bulk Up to take a Bug Bite and knocked the ant back with a STAB Brick Break once again. This baby was my new favorite weapon.

On floor ten, the sandy stairs became harder to find. Scyther kept his people close to me since I was doing most of the attacking, but Grovyle's Leaf Blade and Houndoom's Fire Fang were both doing very well against the Pokémon. Scyther, however, barely lifted a scythe; he mainly watched as his lower-leveled guild members did most of the work. I frowned at his leadership skills—I thought he was better than that. I knocked a Durant back with a Payback after being bitten and quickly ran up the stairs. The others accompanied and I exhaled in relief. This was getting hard fast.

"If you accepted my guild's invitation, perhaps you would be better protected," Scyther said rather lazily.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not joining a guild ever again."

"Suit yourself."

I kept moving and found an orange gummi on the sixteenth floor. After struggling to find the stairs each time for the past six or seven floors, I was relieved to learn my newest Team Skill, my third one out of five, was Stair Seeking. Every floor now, I could see the blue square that signaled the stairs. The only issue was finding it on the map. After facing several dead ends, I finally helped Scyther's group make it to the twentieth floor. However, we still hadn't seen Buneary. I'd been calling out for a very long time and we haven't missed a single room in the dungeon so far, but I was devastated to find her not here. She wasn't answering her messages, either.

The twentieth floor was a rest area. Houndoom and Grovyle fell to the floor in exhaustion as Scyther walked in behind them. I brought up the rear and laid by them in the hot sand. Scyther stood over me with a smirk on his face.

"What's wrong? Not as active as you were before?" he chuckled. "We all can't keep up, I suppose. You were a good starter, I will say."

I got up from the dirt and grabbed Scyther's arms. I looked him straight in the eyes and started spitting out insults. Grovyle and Houndoom looked over in concern, but neither of them dared to move my direction. Scyther was stuck facing me on his own.

"You dare act like it was easy to get here when you made your slaves do it for you?" I questioned.

"They are guild members, not slaves. They are only trying to keep me protected."

I shook my head at him. "That's stupid. You treat them as friends, not body guards."

"How would you know?" he asked. "You let your friends die."

I dropped the conversation, held my temper in, and moved toward the portal. I told the others that Buneary had to be just ahead, but none of them moved. I groaned and realized they all wanted to turn back.

"We went twenty floors in and she's not here. Tragic, isn't it?"

"Buneary's in here, Scyther. I know she is. I'm going after her," I snarled. I went into the portal and left the guild party alone in the resting room. I trudged on, shocked, and muttered insults about the Golden Warriors to myself. I knew Buneary was in trouble. I could see the glint of something every now and then, whether it be an orb or a TM disc, and every time I swore it was the glint of those large blue diamonds.

Buneary was the best thing that happened to the guild. Flying Fighters started off weaker, but they grew in power. Many Flying-type Pokémon evolve in the early-to-late twenties, yet Scyther's guild still has many Pokémon who lack the levels to evolve, and some are still in their basic forms. Nevertheless, Buneary was the strongest out of all of them. She battled nearly every Pokémon in his guild and defeated them. The only one she didn't fight was Scyther himself, and it was because he did not wish to fight.

I knew all of this because despite my laziness, I kept up with the times. I read the papers, heard the announcements, and gave Combusken large sums of cash to give me secrets about everybody. Mostly, I used the last source on my list, but still.

By floor 30, Scyther had caught up to me alone. Houndoom and Grovyle had to retreat due to their injuries, so he had to resort to me doing most of the work. Sadly, we both knew I would. I couldn't let Scyther die during the mission or I'd be assassinated whenever I would be in a dungeon. Scyther very rarely had to use his Slash attack on a Trapinch or an Aerial Ace on a Durant. I did most of the work and used most of my Max Elixirs in the process. We kept battling, kept going up stairs. Eventually, he spoke up.

"Buneary talks about you," he eventually said.

"Why?" I asked dumbly.

He sighed. "That is what I ask her, but she only says that we should recruit you somehow. There's something about you, Riolu, that threatens everyone else. You're the target of this guild. You're the boss killer, well, you were. Whatever is the reason, you are very popular among the gossipers."

I knew what he meant. Everyone was talking about the legendary Speeding Bullet. Someone mentioned writing comics about him. He was a mythological hero. I was a rejected soloist.

"I think we should head back," he said aloud, though his HP bar was completely full.

"We're on the fortieth floor. There has to be an end somewhere. We'll make it to the end and find her, I just know it. Come on, the stairs are this way."

Suddenly, my Monster House signal went off. I warned Scyther and he nodded. He had the same Team Skill, but he didn't tell me about his warning. Something about that made me feel uneasy.

Sadly, the Monster House was in the room where the stairs were. We entered the room and a bunch of Durant spawned right in front of us. Usually, the Durant wouldn't post much of a problem. However, the game is much more dangerous when one Pokémon uses a certain move: Agility.

When a Pokémon used Agility and it was a spawned monster, then all the spawned monsters in that room got the speed boost. It's a notoriously dangerous mechanic in the PMD universe. With a computer-controlled ally doing it, the move would be annoying and a waste of time, but enemies using the move drastically decreased survivability rates.

A Durant used Agility and increased the speed of the other Durant in the room, and then one of the other Durant increased speed again by using the same move during its own turn. I quickly got overwhelmed when trying to kill Durant with Payback and Brick Break. I killed two, had to re-heal, got a critical hit Brick Break on one, and got slammed with a crit right back. In that moment, I remembered the TM Bulldoze. With Durant surrounding me and Scyther standing around watching, I used the TM Bulldoze to knock all the ants back and lower their speed a stage as an added bonus. By now, they were only at one speed boost, so they returned to normal speed and two from the impact of the attack. I killed the second to last one with a Brick Break and Scyther picked the last one, and coincidentally the weakest, with a not-very-effective Slash attack.

I sarcastically clapped as we went up the stairs and to the next floor. I usually preferred to work on my own, but Monster Houses were a different thing. No one can survive every single of those alone every time. It was terrifying. However, the rest of the dungeon was easy enough because we made it to floor 45 with few encounters and met the giant double doors of the boss room.

Coincidentally, leaning against those two doors was none other than Buneary. I ran to the bunny and checked her HP bar: it was actually in the yellow. I gave her some berries to heal up and she hugged my neck with sincere gratitude.

"I'm so glad you're here," she whispered, but she quickly raised her voice. "But this wouldn't have happened if you had went with me!"

I was pushed into the sand, but I knew I deserved it. I acted like a jerk before. A lazy, bulky jerk. She was honestly glad that I came, though, because she had quite the story to tell.

"I was robbed on floor 28. I was afraid to go back down to the rest area to leave because the thief went that way, and I didn't have any more Escape Orbs. I was forced to find the stairs. I quickly lose PP, too, so I had to avoid battles and hope not to run into any Monster Houses. I was lucky to make it here in one piece. I was afraid it'd come back."

I looked at her, my pupils trembling from guilt, and hugged her again. "I'm so sorry I didn't come with you. I knew it was a trap and shouldn't have made you face it alone. Who was 'it,' by the way?"

Buneary gulped and covered her eyes with an arm. "'It' was, uh," she said nervously. "Sableye."

I gasped, though it probably sounded overly-dramatic. I had expected Sableye the whole time, but I didn't expect to get proof of it.

"But Riolu, listen," she said quickly.

I ignored her, though, because on my menu, the red dot of a distress signal was coming from the first floor.

"Something was off about it," she explained.

"What do you mean?" I asked hurriedly.

"It just didn't fit what I expected. I can't explain the feeling…"

Scyther coughed and took the spotlight. "There is a distress signal on the first floor. I'm guess that means someone is in trouble. We all know who is causing that trouble now, so why don't we exit the dungeon and come back through the town's portal?"

We both nodded and got out of the sand. The three of us ran to the green portal and quickly made our way back into Anthill Peak. Buneary and I talked along the way in hushed whispers; we didn't want Scyther hearing us.

"I knew I wasn't crazy," I smiled.

"I wouldn't say that," Buneary joked. She pushed back her ears as she ran and smiled back.

"Look who's being the mean one now!"

Buneary changed the subject. "What do you think of Scyther?"

I paused and frowned. "He's a little mean," I said.

She nodded. "That's why he put me in charge of the guild members. He's just in charge of the guild's funds and reputation. I do the training, the questing, etc. He's a decent friend, though."

I felt some sort of newfound respect for her. She had the leadership skills both Scyther and I lacked. She was able to communicate perfectly with those Pokémon. She was the real leader of the Golden Warriors. I didn't have the heart to tell her Scyther would have left her dead.

We jumped down the Anthill Peak hole and ended up right back on floor one. It was weird—Scyther said they had surveillance on all exits, yet there wasn't one up top. It was almost like he was lying, but what for?

"Aaah!" a scream could be heard from one of the rooms of the sandy dungeon. Buneary and I ran toward the scream and defeated the lower-level Trapinch that roamed the beginning floor.

We both came across a Ghost-type Pokémon that perfectly fit my nightmarish descriptions—the purple skin, the red gem on the chest, and the two diamond eyes that fit above a toothy smile. The humanoid Pokémon was dangerously unpredictable, but he seemed completely harmless when he came running to us.

"Please, save me!" he squealed as a Trapinch came this way.

The Trapinch couldn't have been higher than level 23, which was a full ten levels under my own. Almost every Pokémon, at least those that participated in the dungeon battles, was above level twenty-five.

Sableye ran into Buneary and tackled her to the ground. I punched Sableye with a Payback and knocked his HP bar into the red—I did over 80% of his health with just that move. He hadn't even attacked me, either. I was surprised at how frail he was. Buneary got up and used Jump Kick on the Trapinch, knocking it into glass shards. Meanwhile, I pinned Sableye on the ground and stared deep in his lifeless eyes.

"Why are you tormenting me?" I screamed.

"I'm not!" he screamed back.

"You robbed Buneary!"

"I didn't!"

I pulled Sableye up and threw him against the wall. A smidge of his HP bar fell from the mere pressure, but I didn't mind it. I loved seeing this Pokémon in pain. Killing him would be effortless if Buneary wasn't present.

"Tell the truth," I said through gritted teeth.

Sableye pulled out his menu and showed me. He was at level thirteen. He had 40 HP, which was barely anything at this point in the game. It was pathetic. He was pathetic. How could he steal from Buneary, a level thirty-two?

"You're the beta tester," I said with less enthusiasm. I almost said it in a question and cursed myself for my weariness.

"I'm not," he insisted. "I'm not a beta tester—I don't even know how to really play this game! I was abducted!"

"Save it," I yelled.

"Riolu," Buneary interrupted. I looked at her and knew she was about to speak again. "He's not in the guild."

"I'm not in any guild!" he cried.

"How do you know?" I asked.

She pointed in the top left of the menu. It said "GUILD: NONE" under his name, money, and player information. I suggested the possibility that it was an unregistered guild, but she shook her head.

"He's level thirteen, he's not a beta tester, and he isn't a guild member. He's innocent," Scyther butted in.

"Shut up," I told him.

"I'm just saying—"

"Shut up," I repeated.

"Riolu, there's a problem," Buneary said.

"It's him," I told her.

"It's not!" Sableye muttered.

"It's not," Buneary assured. "His voice is male. The voice of the Sableye that attacked me—it sounded like a girl's."

I was shocked. Since there was a one-of-each-Pokémon rule to this particular game now, there couldn't be another Sableye in the game. He didn't have alternate forms and didn't have branch evolutions. It was impossible. Not even True Reality would let the one beta tester I hated have another Sableye to make excuses for.

"What does that mean," I said in confusion.

"It means he's innocent. Someone's tricking us," she said, but she soon looked around. "And that someone is in here with us."

We all looked at the hallway, where I simultaneously spotted the blue glittering diamonds and the curled smile. Another Sableye walked out and into the room we were in. It stepped beside us, looked at the innocent Sableye, and smiled. It then focused and used Night Slash to cause a black force to slice away at the level 13 Sableye and make it fly into the disappearing shards of death.

Buneary, Scyther, and I were all shocked by the attack and I used Bulldoze on the nearby Sableye to lower its speed. The attack caused it to make a weird face. The blue diamond eyes and disgusting smile disappeared. The figure itself grew taller and hairier. Its arms extended. Its fur grew long in the back. Its eyes grew darker. Zoroark's illusion quickly faded after it suffered the blow of my attack. It stumbled to catch its balance and looked at me with an impressed smile.

"Very good," she smiled. "You caught me off guard."

My mouth fell open. "So you're the one? You're the beta Sableye?"

Zoroark laughed. "That's sweet of you, but no, I'm not. The real one you want is still hidden away; I am but a distraction. Sableye is no more. But be warned: now that you are back in the running, you'll never escape the endless paranoia. I'm always around, Riolu. Black Ice has been watching you since floor one. We know your true intentions and you know ours."

I was confused. "What do you mean by that?"

She shook her head as if I were a little boy. "Oh, Riolu, you really are dull. Phase one is now complete. I hope you're ready for floor thirty-eight. For your sake, that is. I'll be seeing you, Riolu. I'll be seeing you."

Zoroark grabbed an Escape Orb from her bag and ran out before I could grab onto her. She was gone. Sableye was gone. My whole idea that Sableye was the beta tester from before was gone. Zoroark said she was just a distraction. Who was the beta tester that haunted my every thought? And what "true intentions" did I know about?

Buneary put a hand on my shoulder. "What did she mean by that? 'Back in the running.' Back in the running for what?"

I shrugged. At this point, I didn't know anything. And now I'm starting to wonder if I ever will.


	8. Chapter 8 - The Magma Cavern

December 24th, 2025

Floor 19

We were almost two-fifths of the way through the game. With less than 300 players, the other sixty-percent would not be easy—and that's assuming we don't lose mass amounts of people. If one raid failed, if one boss killed the whole team, then we would be trapped in this game forever. We weren't suited for battle like this, not all of us. I had played Pokémon before I had even started Kindergarten, yet even I felt overwhelmed. This wasn't a game where you could turn it off in frustration. This was a game where "turning off" meant dying.

Floor nineteen was a Fire-type's dream; there were pits of lava (which were impossible to walk on since damage was impossible in the city) all over town. We were at the base of a volcano. The last floor, we were in a power plant-themed floor. That boss was Zapdos, and the one before it was Articuno. Therefore, we were pretty sure this boss would be the last of the trio: Moltres.

I was in one of the generic Kecleon shops at the time. I was looking for an Oran Berry to top off my bag at ten berries. Ten seemed like a standard number for that sort of item, anyway. The basic items needed to be in bulk. Anyway, I moved along the red-tiled floors and went to the produce section of the store. Oran berries were in large quantities in these wooden boxes. I went to click the menu button when my finger pecked the finger of another buyer. I pulled it back and quickly apologized. I looked up to see a familiar set of eyes staring back into mine.

Buizel's hand was still in the same place where we had touched. The touch felt almost like a strand of our friendship being played like a guitar. I watched him stand there, shocked, and he closed his eyes hard. I saw what looked like a tear form at the bottom of his eyelid.

"Buizel, I…" I tried to speak.

Buizel looked down at my chest, but I knew he was zoning out. I wondered what he was thinking about; was it about rekindling our friendship? Or perhaps remembering what had happened to destroy it in the first place. Or maybe he wanted to kill me. In the end, I concluded it was all those things wrapped together.

"Riolu," he said, but that was all he said.

I felt like I needed to initiate conversation first. My first question was about his level; he was three levels behind me, at thirty-seven. That was way above the requirements for him to evolve. I asked him why he'd remained a Buizel for so long. Keeping his stats down like that on purpose, and when everyone was hitting a benchmark level, level 36, so fast. Everyone was working on the last evolutionary stage in their respective lines; Monferno turned into an Infernape three days ago.

"I-I'm trying to get Aqua Tail early so I'll do well in the next few floors," he explained. "I have just one more level."

I knew what he meant. Waiting on evolution wasn't always a good idea stat-wise, but you learned moves a lot quicker when you didn't evolve. It was just too bad my learnset wasn't the same as Lucario's. I'd have to find a Move Reminder later on.

"So where's Dewott?" Buizel asked bitterly.

The remark hurt me probably as much as Dewott had hurt him; Dewott was almost like a replacement in Buizel's eyes, yet I hadn't seen the Pokémon since the last floor's boss. I gulped and readied my explanation.

"I wasn't trying to replace you like that, Buizel. You know I wouldn't do that. I saved him and his friend earlier, and then I cured his poisoning back on Laogai Lake. We're just friendly solo players. No one could replace the void you left in me," I admitted, fists balled up at my sides. Tears were forming in my eyes this time. "He's not my best friend. Youare."

Buizel gasped quietly. He wasn't ready for such a straight answer coming at him. "I know what you mean," he said, looking away. "There was something missing in me since floor nine. I wish we could go back to those days. To El…to E-Ell," he stuttered. He quit his sentence and wiped the sorrow from his gaze. "But that was the past. It's all good now."

I didn't say anything for a moment. "Buizel, I'm _so_ sorry about your sister. I would never have let—"

Buizel threw himself on me in a hug. He cried onto my shoulder as if Whismur's (Ellie's) death had just happened a few minutes ago. His weight started to cramp my neck, so I set down on my legs and let him keep weeping. He needed to let everything out. He had all this bottled up sadness destroying his emotional sanity.

When he calmed down, I cleared my throat. "I understand if you still don't want to be friends. I wouldn't want to be, either, if that had happened to me," I said.

Buizel shook his head. "It wasn't your fault, Rio. I let my anger get the best of me. Fletchling used my tears to twist how I really felt. He tore us apart. I wasn't mad at you. I was mad at me—I was her big brother. I was with her that whole time. And I couldn't handle the pressure."

"No, Buizel," I insisted.

"But you know what?" he said, a smile surprisingly on his face. "I think Ellie's happier outside of this game. Outside of this _hell_. Those monsters out there? Those monsters would make her kill herself anyway. She wouldn't want to live in a world where 'cute and cuddly' meant dying. Nor would she want to be a Salamence that could just sweep through the floors. He was too ugly for her," he laughed, but he then stopped. "She couldn't handle the evil that I never saw in this game before."

I shifted uncomfortably in the floor and stood up. I looked down on the orange otter that crossed his arms around his knees. I looked deep in his eyes and sighed. I had to tell him.

"Buizel, what if I told you that Ellie's death was no accident," I whispered. "That someone… _planned_ it?"

His eyes dilated from the fear hidden in my words. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came.

"There are people out there, Buizel, that are trying to kill us. We have to watch out for—"

"Bui, who's your friend?" a feminine voice called out from the back.

Buizel quickly stood up and smiled at her presence. When I saw her, though, I felt a strange prickling at the back of my neck. The Pokémon was jellyfish-like and pink—very pink. She had blue-centered eyes that were outlined in a darker pink than her elegant body. She floated slightly in the air. I recognized her name, but I couldn't recognize why she made me uncomfortable.

Frillish smiled at me for one second too long. She looked away at Buizel and dusted him off. "That floor made you so dirty!" she giggled.

I was confused. Your avatar couldn't get dirty unless you were battling or asked for that as some sort of decoration. The town couldn't affect you like that at all.

She pecked him on the cheek and he returned the favor. I stood there, shocked, and looked around to see if anyone else was feeling the awkward sensation I felt.

"Who's your friend?" she repeated slightly more sternly.

Buizel turned to me and held his arm out in my direction. He kept his eyes on the female Water-type. "This is Rio, my best friend."

Hearing the words "best friend" murdered the disgustingly heavy monkey on my back. I was alleviated of so much regret. I even smiled slightly at hearing those words again from my own best friend.

"Rio, this is Frillish, my girlfriend."

My smile disappeared. Something didn't seem right, and I was about to say something, but I had just gotten back into being friends with Buizel. I couldn't destroy his heart again. Not this time.

"Nice to meet you," I finally said with an extended hand.

"Pleasure's mine," she muttered as she shook it with her tentacle. She looked back to Buizel. "I'm going to step out. Don't take too long in here; you promised me we'd Moomoo Milkshakes before the boss battle."

She and Buizel cuddled in some sort of disgusting, disheartening way. I looked away at the petty, immature display of affection and quickly felt embarrassed. Some other shoppers began glancing this way. I couldn't tell if they were moved or sickened, but I knew I was the latter.

Frillish moved back toward the store's entrance. I waited until the door closed before I explained anything.

"I can't explain why," I told Buizel, "but I feel like Frillish is hiding something."

He made a weird face. "What? That's crazy. What makes you say that?"

"I," I started, but then slumped. "I forgot. I know I sound pathetic and maybe defensive, but can you check the 'guild' label in her menu if you get a chance? Check to see if it says 'BI' or 'Black Ice,' etc.," I explained.

Buizel raised an eyebrow. "Do you mean that secret guild everyone gossips about? Why would she—"

I shook my head as Frillish glanced at us through the display window. "Not here. I'll explain later. Just…trust me, okay?" I asked.

Buizel shook his head. "Riolu, I'm glad we're friends again, but I think you're obsessing over nothing. Maybe you should take a break," he suggested before telling me bye and walking out of the store to join Frillish.

He didn't even look back. He just kept walking. I scratched my head and knew I had to figure out why Frillish was giving me the creeps.

. . .

Downtown

Later that day, I strapped my new Power Band on and removed my Black Belt. The item only had two durability points left. At zero, it would break. It was still special to me; it was the first quest I had completed, and it was also the last thing Buizel and I were trying to accomplish before we split ways. It had some sentimentality to it.

Once I was back on my feet, I began running to a different section of shops—the player shops. There were small, empty buildings you could rent in the more populous area of town. These were reserved for player shops, which were scarce but rewarding. Store owners could hire item finders and properly sell rare items with more safety than regular player-on-player item purchases.

Pokémon that could find items or do quests quickly and easily were high in demand, so store owners offered a vow of secrecy to item finders. The only downside was the payoff, but even that was manageable.

The entrepreneur I was searching for was an old friend of mine. After going through ridiculous stores, such as Corsola's Twigs, I finally found one of the most popular small businesses in town—the Aroma Smell Shop. The name was sort of crappy, but the person inside? Definitely not.

I went up to the green building and rang the bell for assistance. I heard some shuffling around in the back and eventually a large box was set on the ground. A Pokémon about half my height shows up and gives me the biggest hug I've had in a way. Roselia smiles comfortably and demands to know how my adventure's been.

"It's been okay," I lied.

"Great! I'm so glad to be out of harm's way. My shop's pretty popular, too, so I'm living in a nice house on floor fifteen. Even though I'm not a nurse, I still have herbs and berries for sale!" she squealed in excitement.

I chuckled before explaining my reason being here. "I know you have some scent-based items. I was wondering if, well, this is a long shot, but I was wondering if you have something that could help out a blocked memory."

Roselia tilted her head slightly before smiling and running in the back of her store. I awkwardly looked around at the flea market around me and saw all the shoppers judging me for making conversation. I felt completely embarrassed until a door on the side of the store opened.

"In here," the rose-based Pokémon whispered.

I stepped through the dark space and found myself cramped in the tiny back room of the store.

"I know it's not comfortable back here," she acknowledged like I had just said that out loud. She then moved her gaze toward a small mattress on the ground. "Lay on that," she instructed.

I nodded and got on the small sleeping space. It was tiny, but good enough. I looked around as she brought a small pot. She lifted the lid and a weird aroma filled the room.

"Usually, the Odd Incense is meant as a Psychic-type power-up, but it also has psychic abilities of its own," she explained as she wafted the scent towards me. "You're going to feel a little dazed and go into a sort of dream. Hold onto a memory and you should be able to watch it from your own past eyes."

I closed my eyes as she continued fanning. Soon enough, the "sort of dream" came over me like a wave of warmth. I felt myself fading away from reality in a dreary mix of fear and courage.

. . .

I suddenly found myself running towards Laogai Lake from the earlier floors. I couldn't turn back or stop anything; I was stuck in my body, yet it had all the controls. I could only watch. It was terrifying to see Gothita back on that dance floor, so I chose to ignore as much of it as I could.

She looked so happy. Her happiness stung my very heart to such an extent that she couldn't be ignored. I had to look. We were diving off the boat into the dungeon for the first time. Before we dove, I ultimately chose to ignore the kiss she planted on my lips. I still felt it.

I knew this was the time Frillish did something, but what was it? I touched the green portal and was teleported down to the underwater cave dungeon. After we had explored the several floors in the dungeon, we made it to the checkpoint. Gothita and I walked forward and I suddenly felt a shiver up my spine. I focused back on what was going on. We walked once more until I heard something. I turned to my right, shrugged, and looked back to see two large, circular blue eyes outlined in a dark pink. Frillish's eyes. Her wavy arms twirled back and forth as her eyes began to glow.

" _There is no evil in this reality. Here, we are safe. Here, we are free."_

The phrase had haunted me after hearing that. Frillish was trying to manipulate our minds. Though forced, I obeyed and moved on in the floors. The only problem was Gothita staying back. I struggled to see the color of Frillish's cursor in the darkness. I needed to see if it was an enemy's (who wouldn't normally talk, but weirder things have happened), an NPC's, or a player's.

The confused state was essentially connected to random movement. Wherever you want to go, you might end up. However, there was a greater chance that you'd be in a random area of the room, or possibly in another room altogether. Somehow, someway, I made it out of that room. My legs began moving without my permission. I was about to exit. I needed confirmation that this Frillish was Buizel's girlfriend.

I tried to look back, but I could only go as far as my pupils let me. I was almost remote-controlled; I felt like I was trapped in a robot. Before I ended up accidentally escaping, I actually did end up turning back just a smidge. I looked in the darkness and focused on the brightness of Gothita's eyes. I stretched my vision to see Frillish, "Sableye," and Gothita together. I strained my eyes to see the faint color of a green cursor above each character—player-driven, not computer. As I turned to the escape portal, I saw Sableye morphing back into Zorua. Her shadow was changing as I was leaving. I had left my friend to get embargoed, poisoned, and murdered. My suspicion on Frillish had been validated; she was part of the Black Ice.

Once I teleported away, my eyes opened and I was back in my present body. I sat up straight in immediacy and looked around. The Odd Incense had worn off. Roselia closed up shop as the day grew late and I saw I only had a few minutes before the boss fight. I thanked Roselia, paid her generously, and went on my way to fight the nineteenth floor's dungeon boss.

. . .

This particular dungeon was known as the Magma Cavern. It was seeping the liquid solid from its own walls and floors. The Grass-, Bug-, and Steel-types on our raid team had to avoid this dungeon due to its many Fire-types that loved to splash the magma around. Stepping or touching it caused instantaneous burns. I myself got burned eight times in that dungeon. Luckily, I was always over-prepared, but we did lose several people in this dungeon. This was the first of many to introduce hazards like that.

The boss room was hidden by the infamous doors, which seemed to extend into outer space (or whatever was beyond this game's limit). Once the usual thirty-something people arrived to the raid meeting, Scyther and Skarmory stood proud in front of them all. Infernape stood behind them and waved to me.

"Hello, all," Scyther said loudly. "Glad you could make it. I wanted you to know that Skarmory and I have reached a consensus: we will not be fighting in the boss battle today. We will direct forces, but we will not partake in the dangerous match because of our type disadvantages. Thank you for your concern and we hope to win another fight for the common people!"

The crowd roared in excitement. Especially Talonflame. My mouth fell open when I realized the cowardice Scyther displayed. I looked for Buneary, however she was standing slightly behind the commander with less intimidation in her eyes. There was a ferocity missing.

Bastiodon and Lairon slammed their heads into the giant stone doors and led everyone else inside. The torches were not in place this time; instead, magma shot from the boss-room's dug-out perimeter and created columns of the hazardous material on either side of the boss. We entered the room carefully and the Water-types were already in charge of putting out the water.

Before the boss could show itself, I went over to Infernape and embraced him. That Chimchar that was too much of a coward to even attack was now one of the strongest Pokémon in the game. His guild still only housed his six guild members; he wouldn't accept anyone else. Blastoise, Meganium, Jolteon, Mawile, and Altaria were the only others in it. After I met Infernape again, Moltres revealed itself from its perch on the back of the boss room's wall. It was hidden by an open mouth of stalactites and stalagmite. They gave the room an intimidating feeling. It flew down and squawked at us like it needed an exterminator.

I ran back over to the solo player section and we were ready to attack. I looked to see Buneary taking control of the Golden Warriors. Swellow controlled the Flying Fighters. Buizel, Marowak, Samurott, and I were the main solo players. With Buizel putting out the magma, Samurott had decided to join us in the early part of the battle.

Moltres removed itself from the shadows by screeching a breath of Flamethrower. The Pokémon looked like a fiery, yellow-bellied Fearow. The feathers on its wings were replaced with flames. The crest on its head was also composed of fire. This Pokémon was an ultimate Fire-type.

"Solo players, start us off!" Scyther screamed from the safer area.

Samurott attacked first. He opened his mouth to produce an orb of water that blasted toward Moltres. It created a small wave that slammed the bird Pokémon with a powerful Water-type STAB move. I was hoping it would get the confusion secondary effect, but we weren't that lucky.

Marowak used Rock Tomb right after. Rock Tomb was a move I picked up on the seventeenth floor before my battle with Articuno. I had figured that Bulldoze would be of no use to me in an Ice-type environment. I was right then and I don't regret changing now. Marowak, though, used it just about as well. He points his Thick Club out toward Moltres and forms a giant rock at its tip. The rock was as large as a car back in the real world. I was shocked to see Marowak use his bone as a baseball bat once the rock was completely created. He hit it hard enough to slam into Moltres, cause a bit of damage, and slow it down.

In the back, Buneary got her teams of Golden Warriors guild members together and used Agility so they would have quicker movements. However, after seeing how little Moltres took from a four-times-weak move like Rock Tomb, they were all too discouraged to attack. Buneary was left alone.

Moltres swiped at the air and created a huge gust of wind known as an Air Slash. Its power was incredible. While some ducked for cover, I needed to talk to Buneary. She quickly used Protect as the white line of Flying-type energy approached. I knew that if I was hit by the attack, I would die. I dove under it and remained protected by Buneary's defensive shield. She held her blue reflective dome as strong as she could, but she lifted it up slightly to allow me to enter the small space.

As the wide attack swiped across the battlefield and clanged the armor of Lairon and Bastiodon, I took this opportunity to engage in conversation.

"How's it going?" I asked Buneary, but she shook her head in sadness.

"I'm on the chopping block, Riolu," she told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"Apparently Scyther doesn't think I'm a capable battler after having to be rescued like that. My performance has been 'lacking' or something, I don't know. I'm the second strongest battler in the Golden Warriors—second to only Scyther himself. I have the best learnset for battling and a very high IQ, yet he still has the _audacity_ to claim I can't handle my position."

The Protect faded once the Air Slash attack ended. I told her I would help her prove her worth in this boss battle, but she claimed it was a lost cause. Scyther couldn't be satisfied. Even then, I knew there were limits to a man's terms—especially a greedy one's. Though he would probably hate to admit error, he would do whatever it took to gain more funds, more power, and more influence over everything. Scyther would admit he was wrong for the right price, but we weren't going to use Poké for that. We were going to use an LA bonus.

I quickly summoned a boulder and kicked it straight into Moltres's eyes. The Pokémon squawked and exhaled a wicked Flamethrower attack that burned up the air right above my ducked head. I fell the ground and rolled out of the range of the attack, but the Flamethrower was awfully powerful.

Despite the speed drops, Moltres had a speed advantage. No one knew what to do. Scyther and Skarmory were too scared to attack or lead. Infernape was telling his own guild what to do, but they couldn't last forever. He also had no jurisdiction—as per the guild agreements—over the other troops.

Moltres raised its feathers and summoned many small stones outlined in a blue energy. It threw them towards us and slammed the occasional running Pokémon. Bastiodon bounced most of the rocks back. This attack was called Ancient Power. Luckily, we weren't forced to have a super-powered Moltres despite the possibly stat boosts Ancient Power offered. I destroyed one of the rocks with a Brick Break and closed my eyes. My ears lifted up as I focused my energy into making another Rock Tomb. I closed my eyes and jumped, both feet out in front of me, and called for Buneary after I kicked the rock up in the air. I slammed down hard on the ground, but I knew Buneary could use the rock to her advantage.

Buneary began running and bounced right before landing on my feet, which were still in the air. I pushed back against her weight and made her bounce up into the air of the limited space in the boss room. She was thrown high enough to use Dizzy Punch and make the Rock Tomb spin as it was on its way to hit Moltres with an extra force of power. We unfortunately did not get the confusion possibility.

Buizel, now finished fixing one of the walls of its magma problem, took a sharp turn and projected himself in a comet-like jet of water. The Aqua Jet slammed into Moltres, knocking it back some, but the attack fell short of solid damage. Moltres threw a wing at the air and made an Air Slash that destroyed Buizel's water fixture. He retreated and just barely missed losing the majority of his HP.

I saw Moltres then breathe in deeply and I quickly ran to get everyone out of the way. The Flying-types began pecking and attacking the Flame Pokémon until it eventually let out a Flamethrower attack. A giant wave of fire burned through the air. Swellow guided most of the birds to safety, but Noctowl, Fearow, and Jumpluff all took damage from the fire. Jumpluff fell to the ground and suddenly burst into shards of glass, her coding becoming null after her HP fell to zero. In the back of the room, Skarmory screamed and came rushing forward.

As Swellow motioned for the other birds to follow, Moltres created more blue-outlined stones and hurled them at the Flying-types. Skarmory took the main damage from the hit, but the other birds still fell into the yellow. Bastiodon knocked back an unusually large boulder and sustained minimal damage, but suddenly a red rain-like effect overtook Moltres. All of its stats just went up by one.

Losing Jumpluff was a very distraught implication about how difficult Moltres was to defeat. Our attacks were not doing very much damage considering the Pokémon's overall bulk, but it had a very high special attack stat and a decent arsenal of moves to use. Moltres screeched and unleashed another Flamethrower that overtook Bastiodon and Lairon, which caused the latter to sustain a burn and get put in the red. I noticed that his Sturdy ability was the only reason he was alive at this point, but I was relieved to see aids coming to bring his health back up.

I grabbed Buneary's hand and rushed her along the hardened-magma wall. We fell to the ground as another slash in the air dared us to come closer. Buneary's raid team scrambled around behind us. They were useless, but she wasn't. We sprinted past the lava flowing about and I stopped her just short of being dangerously close to the boss.

"Look, we need to take this thing out now," I told her.

"No kidding," she said with haste.

"Wait for my signal. When I tell you to Jump Kick, do it," I told her. She nodded.

I left my friend and walked backwards a little bit. I looked up the cave wall, sighed, and proceeded to jump on its side and run up it like in a video game. My feet kicked off the ground and unsteadily began shifting positions on the wall. Soon enough, I found myself sprinting as if it were a regular floor anyway. I kept running until I reached the stalactite structures dangling from the ceiling like icicles. I jumped from the cold wall and threw myself into the air above Moltres. It watched as I then proceeded to summon a rock and slam it into the ceiling above—I was trying to make the stalactites puncture it like a giant Iron Thorn.

While waiting to see if anything was loose enough to fall, everything else went by in what felt like a second. I found myself falling to my death since my momentum had ended from the jump earlier. I came crashing to the ground and was saved by Skarmory in just enough time for me to kick off and land on my feet in the dirt. Small boulders on the sides, which were not the areas I was aiming for, began to fall from the ceiling. Players were impacted heavily; Scyther was especially scared of being flattened by a rock.

Moltres took a few hits from loose rocks, but I quickly noticed that Buizel, who was still recovering from the faltered Aqua Jet, was going to take the blunt of the attack. One of the stalactites that wasn't my target began to drop. Soon enough, several small ones began falling from the ceiling.

Buizel pushed himself up off the ground and rubbed the back of his head. I screamed out to him but knew my own warnings wouldn't be enough. I'd have to save him myself. My fist quickly turned white—the start of Brick Break, my new STAB move of choice. I kicked off the ground again and flew in front of him. My powerful fist punched at the sharp weapons, causing them to dismantle like Jumpluff did just minutes before. Buizel watched me from behind my shoulder. I didn't hear him say anything, but I glanced to see his surprised expression.

The largest stalactite hadn't fallen yet. It was very loose, however it was holding strong. I had failed in my attempt. Buneary looked at me for the signal, but I only shrugged. Buizel looked at me as I took damage from several loose rocks falling to the ground.

"Thanks," he said emotionlessly.

"No problem," I smiled.

"Look, Buizel," I began. "I had some help from Roselia to get my memory back from the confusion that—oh, you don't care. My point is that I know Frillish is a part of the Black Ice."

Buizel's eyes narrow. "Riolu, thank you for saving me, but I don't need this."

My stomach churned. "Look, I know I'm being a jerk in telling you this while we fight for our lives, but she helped kill that Gothita on floor fourteen. You have to believe me," I insisted. "We're best friends."

"Frillish has been there for me since the ninth floor, Riolu…she's close to me, too," he sighed.

I sighed. "Check her menu when you get a chance and then see for yourself."

I then turned away from my friend to see the giant rock from the ceiling falling down. I threw a piece of rubble in the air and kicked it as hard as I could, launching the Gravelerock into the air. The rock smacks the loose stalactite, causing it to dislodge and come falling down.

"Now!" I screamed at Buneary.

She bounced as high as she could and prepared a Jump Kick. However, her position in relation to Moltres's distance was too off—she was going to miss. I had to think fast. I went through my bag and looked at all the berries, TM discs, and other items that wouldn't help. I checked all the pockets and, luckily, I found the one item that could help in a side pocket: my barely-durable Black Belt item. I found another pebble and wound the belt around tightly. I closed one eye and looked at Buneary's movement, the distance from the rock, and the power needed to defeat Moltres. The Black Belt boost would be enough, but I needed the perfect throw.

In the background, Moltres was preparing to unleash a powerful, deadly Fire Blast attack that would surely kill several members of the raid party. It began making a five-pointed fire star and the fire began to spin around. Its attack was almost complete.

"Everyone duck for cover!" Scyther screamed with a furious swiping of his scythes.

"Watch out for that attack!" Skarmory echoed.

I stuck my tongue out slightly as I aimed the item. I flew my hand back and slung it forward in order to chuck the rock as far as I could. The rock went up to Buneary and she caught it, spun around in the air, and, belt in hand, Jump Kicked the rock with all her might. It rocketed from its position and smacked Moltres hard in the beak, destroying the Fire Blast and instantly knocking Moltres into a million shards of dissipating glass. Buneary landed hard on her feet and I sighed in relief from the adrenaline pumping so hard in my body. Not only had I succeeded in keeping everyone else alive, but Buneary also got the bonus she needed.

After everyone cheered, Buneary and I met up near the spawned spiraling staircase. I motioned for her to go first and she happily went up. She thanked me for the help and the successful boss feat. We were about to finish going up the stairs when we heard a voice call from the back.

"Very impressive, Buneary," Scyther said admittedly. "You have abilities I didn't even expect. I was wrong about you."

Scyther went past me and separated the two of us. He looked Buneary straight in the eyes and said, "Keep up the good work."

"Thank you," she said, yet she seemed to look over his shoulder and say it to me. Her eyes were sincere and appreciative.

With that said, Scyther walked off with his guild and said nothing more. I let Buneary go into the portal first and decided to go catch up with my solo player friends in the meantime. This was her time to shine. She tossed me the Black Belt with one use left and I nodded to her in satisfaction. After wishing her a merry Christmas Eve, I stepped down the marble stairs and saw Buizel walking away alone. I looked over to him with longing, but I let him go this time. He needed time to think. I just hoped he didn't think I'd make him pick between Frillish and me.

. . .

December 25th, 2025

Floor 20

Christmas day always felt something special back home. It was the only time I ever got to see family members from other parts of the country. You never know when this Christmas would be someone's last. Friends and family put aside their differences and came together. As a kid, seeing cousins your parents didn't come for was sort of a treasure. It meant more stories, more presents, and more fun.

This year, it wouldn't be like that. I could imagine my mom crying on my hospital bed as she curses the creator of this game. I could see my dad wondering where he went wrong in raising me. Worst of all, I could see my sister devastated that I missed another holiday with the family. The pain made me realize that this game could be completely pointless. What if True Reality was lying? What if the Arkaés region was made to be unbeatable?

I strolled the road of Floor 12, which housed the Golden Warriors base, and pondered the probability that we'd make it out of this game alive. Losing Jumpluff made me realize that these raid battles aren't as easy as they used to be; moves can one-shot Pokémon depending on the typing and stats. I needed to evolve soon, and while Buizel's friendship did boost it more, it was still below the requirement. If I wasn't going to become a Lucario, I wasn't going to last in this game.

But evolving would require some sort of happy event taking place. A happy event in this game prison? Many video gamers would ask to be trapped in a game like this so they could live in their own realities, but not me. How could I be happy when I'm missing Christmas with my family?

I looked at the Golden Warriors' base: it was a large building with several red and gold tents sprawled about the property. Floor 12 was a base floor; it had large plots for rent for just this kind of purpose. The G.W. building itself was made to be like a fancy castle. Stone bricks were used to set the foundation for the grand organization, and it even had a drawbridge to boot.

I went inside the building with a special present I had for Buneary and found myself at a receptionist's desk. I attempted to walk through and find her room number, but I was sadly stopped by the Pokémon sitting down.

"Can you tell me your business for being here?" Audino asked.

"I'd like to give this package to a friend," I said, holding up my gift.

"Who is your friend?"

Before I could finish the word "Buneary," she said that everyone was too busy. I glared at the Normal-type Pokémon and set the blue present down on the table.

"What's in the box?" she asked.

"Make sure you give that to Miss Buneary," I said politely.

As I walked out of the building, I saw Audino slightly open the gift. I snapped and told her to leave it shut. I knew telling her wouldn't help at all, but I nevertheless felt the need to let her know I saw her. She smiled and waved, but I knew it wasn't genuine.

So Buneary didn't have time for me on Christmas day, which sort of hurt. I entered the portal and selected Floor 20, which was a national park-based floor. Buizel had told me that he would be in the park somewhere around this time, so I went on a walk to find my friend and celebrate Christmas with him one way or another.

As I turned the corner of the green park's circular road, I found Buizel…and Frillish. They were on a date with a picnic basket. I quickly darted out of sight before they could invite me over and turn me into some sort of third wheel. I didn't want to be like that; I especially didn't want to be associated with _her_.

I left the park and went into the town to find Samurott and Marowak, my two solo player buddies. They told me there was a friendly tournament going on with a jackpot grand prize. I ran into the crowd upon reaching the basic city structure and squirmed my way to the sign-ups. Behind the table and the several Pokémon signing up was Marowak. He twirled his bone and looked around, presumably for me. I ran up to him and greeted him.

"Are you ready to battle?" I asked him.

"Yeah!" he cheered.

"Me too!" I mimicked.

Marowak got quiet and stopped twirling his bone. "Riolu, this tournament is only for fully-evolved Pokémon…I'm sorry, but you can't get in. Did Samurott not tell you?"

I frowned. "I guess not," I said.

I turned around and resumed running in between Pokémon to make it to my required destination.

. . .

Christmas was a disaster. Roselia closed up shop to hang out with some friends and Combusken, who hadn't evolved fully due to some sort of goal she had, wasn't answering his messages. I was alone on one of the most cherished days of the American year. I took my Power Band off and gripped it tightly in my hands. Why didn't anyone even want to talk to me? Was I that invisible?

Or perhaps I was too helpful? Being nice to all these people and making friends with everyone has one drawback—you don't stand out in anyone's life. You're just another friendly face. I sighed at the thought of me just being another friendly guy and shuddered. I couldn't last alone. I've never been a _true_ solo player. Not like that. I've had someone near me this whole time, whether it be in a party or in a distant understanding.

I turned the corner of a street and went into a dark alley. I instantly felt someone watching me and looked to see a crescent-shaped shadow looming over my body, but I was unable to find its source. I kept walking and soon heard talking.

"Do you have the cash or not?" a hateful Pokémon asked.

"I-I'm sorry," a more panicked one said. "I'm broke!"

"Show me your menu," a third snorted.

I didn't want to help at first. I was alone on Christmas and no one had cared to help me out, so why bother? Why couldn't I live my misery in peace? I'd rather just lather myself in my own pity than focus on someone else _again_.

Despite these thoughts running through my mind, I knew I had to help. My head turned the corner slightly enough to see a Croagunk and a Pancham taunting a Scraggy in the middle of them.

"I-I don't think that's a good idea!" Scraggy muttered as he pulled his skin up to his chin in fright.

"Why don't we empty those pants of his? They're so baggy that they _have_ to be filled with something!" Pancham laughed.

Scraggy shook his yellow head and backed up against a decorative dumpster. "Please leave my menu alone. I'll get you the money later!"

"'Later' isn't going to cover it," Croagunk said. "If you don't have that cash you promised the Boss, we'll have to take you to the dungeon and threaten you."

Scraggy's face went pale. "Not the dungeon! There are monsters spawned there!"

Pancham smiled at the fear in Scraggy's eyes. "Not just monsters, kid! There are worse things in this game than monsters."

That statement made me squirm uneasily. These guys were full of themselves. I revealed myself from behind the corner of one of the buildings and ran to Scraggy's side. The Pokémon looked at me in confusion, but I was ready to jump to the occasion.

"Yeah, like me," I said.

Pancham and Croagunk looked at each other for a second before laughing. They mentioned something about no-PVP and the Speeding Bullet. I looked at their narrowed eyes and grabbed Scraggy's hand. I ran with all my might and dragged the Pokémon behind me.

"Hey!" Pancham yelled as we ran.

We kept running and Scraggy's skin-pants kept slipping down. They were proving to be a huge waste of time, so once we were in a heavily-populated area, I moved him in a large crowd and started digging in my bag.

"What made them bother you?" I asked as I dug.

Scraggy gulped. His circular eyes blinked twice and he looked at the ground. "I used to work for their guild but couldn't handle the pressure of it," he sighed.

"What guild?" I asked.

"It was called 'Black Ice,' I think. I was just a supply runner, so they didn't want me to know much."

Hearing those words made this Pokémon infinitely more useful. I found my Black Belt item and tied it around Scraggy's waist, both powering his Fighting-type moves and keeping his skin in place. He thanked me and I rushed him through more traffic into one of the more popular—and cheap—restaurants in the area. We waited it out and saw Croagunk and Pancham running past the windows. They were _still_ on Scraggy's tail.

"Thank you so much for saving me," Scraggy told me. "You're that Riolu everyone talks about, aren't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Look, you should probably keep hiding and if I start going another way, I'll throw them off. Can you send me a friend request so we can communicate later?"

Scraggy opened his menu and quickly pressed a few keys on the digital board. I then got a message asking if I wanted to be friends with Scraggy. I accepted and wished him good luck. We would definitely be speaking again. I walked out of the restaurant and turned several different alley corners before eventually revealing myself and walking among the crowds once more. I didn't see the goons again, but I didn't want to take any chances.

. . .

That night, I sat on my hotel bed and looked at a screenshot taken and "printed" to put in fake frames. It had the six of us, the original guild, standing side by side. Budew and Shieldon were on the ends and Fletchling and Whismur were the next on the inside. In the center, Buizel and I stood side-by-side. Buizel held an arm around me and had a hand giving Whismur bunny ears. The tackiness of it all made the picture hilarious. I was just smiling regularly, but I was so happy in that instant of this game.

Everything was gone now, sort of. I had Buizel back, but to what extent? Roselia wasn't the same as she was before; she was independent. Bastiodon and Talonflame moved on, and Talonflame wouldn't even be welcomed back anyway. I had to start new on my friends. Some of them had stayed with me so far, like Buneary and the two solo players, but some didn't last. Gothita died a few floors ago.

It's not even been half a year, yet everything went in slow motion. After everything I'd done, no one even cared to wish me a Merry Christmas. I felt completely, utterly, and indestructibly unappreciated.

Little did I know, at that very moment, I was being appreciated by everyone.

Scraggy was running from the Black Ice grunts with his new Black Belt saving his life. Combusken was in the first floor's massive library researching possible significances of the thirty-eighth floor so I could rest easier at night. Roselia was turning the pages of her scrapbook of memories and had stopped on the page with the six of us in that very same picture. Samurott and Marowak were complaining about losing the tournament and reminiscing about how I would have done if I had participated.

On Buizel's date under the stars, he and Frillish were lying side-by-side on the picnic blanket. As she messed with her instant messaging, Buizel, half-asleep, couldn't help but glance over Frillish's shoulder and search for a guild name—and he found it. She was, indeed, a member of Black Ice.

Buneary was asleep in her G.W.-assigned bed. On her desk was an opened gift box with its lid slid halfway off the top. Even better, in between her hands was the very gift I had bought her—the coveted Silk Scarf. She was cradling it in her sleep, a smile imprinted heavily on her face.

However, my ignorance had gotten the best of me at that point. I hadn't the slightest clue that any of them were worrying about me. Even though we were forty-percent through the game, I felt like my impact wasn't even a dent on these people. Therefore, I turned out my lamplight and figured I didn't need them anyway. They didn't need me, I figured.

But they did. And I needed them even more.


	9. Chapter 9 - The Stakeout

January 8th, 2026

Floor 21

I ran for my life with the bunny close behind me. I never thought I'd be running with a bipedal, pretty Normal-type rabbit. We were running nevertheless. After walking through the woods of the twenty-first dungeon, I had stumbled on some Honey lying around. Well, it turned out that the Honey was owned by a giant hive of Beedrill, and those Beedrill were not happy to find me taking some for my food back in town.

Now, normally, I'd use an Escape Orb and get out of there. There was no use wasting HP and PP when something worse could go wrong around the corner. Besides, I'd get to keep the Honey without worry. However, today wasn't a normal day—I was with a willing Buneary.

"We're going to have to fight them," she panted. "So let's make it a contest."

My mind picked up the statement and raised red flags everywhere. A contest? That could either be fun, painful, or both. Either way, it was better than running. I wanted to show off my power anyway.

"I'm listening," I said as I kept navigating the floor.

Buneary slowed down to catch her breath, so I copied her. She pulled back the cotton fur on her ears and steadied herself. "Whoever kills the most Beedrill in two minutes wins, deal?"

The concept was rather pointless; I was two levels ahead of Buneary (43 to her 41) and had higher stats overall. I had Rock Tomb at my advantage, a super effective attack that Buneary lacked. Considering my advantages, I accepted her challenge and waited for the clock on my menu to change to the next minute.

The last number on the digital clock went from a six to a seven, so I shouted for us to start and jumped into the air, which was filled with Beedrill to the point that you were almost breathing them.

I used Rock Tomb and one-shotted nearly every Beedrill possible in two minutes. I did have to dodge some attacks since they were naturally faster, but I still managed pretty easily. In the first minute, I had killed fourteen spawners in only a minute. With just thirteen seconds left, I was slicing the last few bodies still carrying the red cursor.

However, I noticed Buneary's Silk Scarf was giving her an even stronger Dizzy Punch than I had expected. She was doing a good bit of damage, too, and when the time was up, she killed her last one. She dared me to say my number first, but I kept taunting her back and doing the cheesy "ladies first" excuses.

"If you don't tell me, then you didn't do anything," she sneered.

"Twenty-six," I admitted rather modestly as I picked at my paw.

Buneary's expression went from annoyed to amused. She raised an eyebrow and kept a gri on her face. "Twenty-six? That's it?"

My face turned red. "Well how many did you beat?"

"I killed thirty-seven," Buneary said without modesty. "You better step up your game, Mr. L.A."

I got flustered. "There's no way you beat forty Beedrill in that time. At this level. That's insane!"

Buneary shook her head. "You're right. I beat _thirty-seven_ ," she said with a smile.

I rolled my eyes and nagged her about cheating and lying the rest of the way back to the town. We used our Escape Orbs to return to Floor 21, and I later escorted her back to her guild's base on floor twelve. We left on good terms, but I was still miffed about losing the competition. No Pokémon is that good.

In the bushes outside of our little skirmish, a Tyrogue managed to avoid my inner radar for stalkers. I later realized this was the Tyrogue that worked for the Golden Warriors; he was Scyther's grunt, basically. He put his X-ray Specs back in his bag after watching the spectacle and got his menu out to send a message to the guild leader. He pressed the microphone symbol near the typing box and cleared his throat.

"She's with _him_ again," Tyrogue said, which caused the internal microphone to translate the voice message into text. Tyrogue sent the update and slowly returned back home. His mission was complete. Buneary was caught again.

. . .

Though not as good as the Grasslands', Floor 21 had fantastic Moomoo Milkshakes. The server in the dairy restaurant was a Miltank herself. I sipped the straw of my milkshake as Buizel's came onto the counter. I looked at the counter a sec and recognized a white-and-black peppery mix. The little black spots were everywhere. It reminded me of my own counter back home.

But that wasn't the focus of our meeting, and neither were the milkshakes. The real reason was the new information Buizel got on his "girlfriend," Frillish. I learned from Scraggy that she was, in fact, a member of Black Ice, but she was also one of the higher-ranked members. She wasn't like Croagunk and Pancham. As a reward, I told Scraggy the best place to level up so he could evolve. Buizel, though, found out his information by watching Frillish's menu when she wasn't paying attention.

"I still can't believe all of this," he said to his milkshake. "Just a few weeks ago we were the happiest people in the world…now I'm scared to death of her."

I felt bad for Buizel, yes, but we both knew we needed to find a way to get rid of her. If he just dumped her, then Frillish could just hire Black Ice assassins to finish us. If he ran away from her, there are no doubt several spies around town that would find the clumsy weasel in seconds. We were stuck in a hole—right where Frillish wanted us.

"She won't even let me evolve. She's level 36, so she still has four levels to go until she can evolve. She wants us to evolve together," Buizel whined.

I secretly enjoyed Buizel's basic form, too. I didn't want him to evolve and grow taller than me. Even so, I wanted what was best for the raid team, so his evolution would have to come. I had to put my personal jealousies aside. I couldn't let them blind me from the real goal: getting out of this game.

"Combusken didn't find anything on Floor 38, either. So we have some psychotic team killing people for some future reason that we'll all figure out and probably die from anyway," I said pessimistically. "Are we still on for tonight?"

Buizel nodded. "She'll be meeting a 'friend' again tonight at eight o'clock on the fifth floor of this dungeon. We just have to follow her there and stake the meeting out."

The instant idea would be that the fifth floor would be prone to people walking on by; it was an earlier floor with lower-leveled Pokémon. However, most of the dungeon dwellers were now skipping the first floors and going the shortcut to the checkpoint, floor twenty-five. Floor five was visited by maybe three people every few days, and those three people are just looking for items. It was basically vacant.

"Sounds like a plan," I smiled.

I got off my seat and raised my hand up for a high five. Buizel, still in his seat, returned the notion, though he nearly teetered off his stool. He hopped off safely, turned to the door, and smacked it without realizing. I opened the door for him and he, embarrassed, walked out in shame.

Before the stakeout, though, I needed to get someone else on board.

. . .

She sat in a chair directly across from her boss's desk. His chair was turned away from her; he was busy despite calling her into his office. The Pokémon, stubborn and short-tempered, radically typed on his keyboard as if the world was in danger. She kicked her feet back and forth in the chair and let them dangle over the side.

Scyther spun around and looked at the paper report laying open on his desk. He flipped through a few pages, sighed, and glanced at Buneary. Her heart was beating hard and fast. He opened his mouth and her eyes followed.

"Hello, Buneary," he said emotionlessly.

"Hello, sir," she replied.

He struggled to close the folder because of his scythes, so Buneary helped him. He quietly uttered a thank-you to her, but he continued his harsh expression.

"You've been distracted recently, I hear," he continued.

Buneary's heart fell into her stomach. She could feel the acids dissolving it right in front of Scyther. She couldn't say anything because she knew what was going to happen.

"I don't want you to lose what the real concern is," he explained. "I want you to stay away from that Riolu. I understand working with him during the boss battles, fine, whatever, but playing with him? Risking your life for fun? Your 'flirting' was a waste of time that you could have used to recruit or train more members of the guild. I'm disappointed in you."

Buneary shook her head. Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes. "Lord Scyther, please! I didn't mean to seem distracted. Riolu's just a friend."

Scyther got out of his chair. "Buneary, I'm surprised at you! You never go against me. Do you care to get out of this game? Ever?"

She slowly nodded. "I'm sorry."

"I don't want you near that boy again. We have more important matters to discuss."

Buneary knew that if she left the guild, she'd been on her own. Even if she teamed up with Riolu and his friends, they'd experience trouble and she'd only be a liability. Here, she was in a place of power where she could actually made a difference. She thought back to her suicidal beginnings in the game. She'd come far since then. She couldn't go back to being alone.

"I understand, sir," Buneary whispered.

"Good," Scyther said. "You can go back to your desk, then. I'll have some paperwork regarding the recent break-in for you in about an hour."

Scyther watched his top-ranked guild member walked out of his room in utter silence. He had hit the edge of her loyalty right then. He was blocking a friend from her life, a friend she had made against the odds of death in this game. He knew what he was doing was immoral, but he had to protect himself somehow. He sat back in his chair and looked at the documents. He picked up the sheet of paper and accidentally sliced it with his scythe.

"Dang it, that's the sixth copy," he sighed.

. . .

Buneary sat at her desk and finished up the papers she had left before being called to Scyther's office. She fought back the urge to cry and steadied her breathing. Riolu was the nicest person in this game, but she couldn't choose him over her work. She worked so hard to get up to this position. She was at the top of the game. She was well-known for her prestige. She was wealthy from the guild's gains. She was powerful—so, so powerful. But was she powerful enough to throw away Riolu like that? She'd have to be.

Buneary opened her menu and saw an incoming message from the desk attendant, an Audino. She opened it and read the black lettering. Usually, she would get tips or leads in investigations. Now, though, the message was something more personal.

"Riolu would like to see you, Ms. Buneary. He doesn't want to wait. He's talking about black ice or something and needs you. Y/N?"

Buneary hit the "reply" button and, regretfully, typed the word out for "no." She knew he wanted her to come for some mission, but she just couldn't. Seeing the words for that guild he was always talking about, the one that almost had her killed not too long ago, raised some awareness, but she could do nothing more than be aware. She couldn't go with him, nor could she supply him with weapons. He always refused to join a guild.

"Send him away," she eventually typed and submitted. Audino later confirmed the action. Buneary bit her lip.

. . .

That night, Buizel and I quickly stepped into the green portal once Frillish had left for a few minutes. We were beamed to the dungeon, a creepy forest, and Buizel immediately wished to turn back. The trees were bare of leaves. Their trunks were rotten and brittle. The walkable land was a mix of dead grass and dry, cracked dirt. I didn't remember the dungeon being so frightening when I went in with Buneary.

We slowly followed the Frillish through the dungeon. She'd stop and look back every now and then, but we'd be hiding behind rocks or trees. Occasionally, we did run into a wild Pumpkaboo or Gourgeist, but my Payback attack did more than enough to destroy them.

"Maybe we should turn back," Buizel suggested.

"Nope," I said. "We're already on the third floor of the dungeon. After this next one, we'll be on the floor the meeting'll happen at."

We kept walking and eventually had to make an unexpected rest stop. After just avoiding a Monster House thanks to my skill, we hit a dead end. Though I do have the Stair Seeker Team Skill, which pointed out where the blue-square icon of the stairs was, we were prone to hitting the boundaries and having to circle back around to find the marble steps.

Through all that walking, Buizel found the perfect opportunity to complain: "I'm hungry," he said.

I opened up my menu and saw that my Belly value (which determined my hunger) was at 45/100, which was plenty to make it up a little bit more. I told him so and reminded him that we needed to save up resource so we don't have to waste money on more. He sighed as we walked up the steps to the fourth floor.

We kept walking and found the stairs in the second room of the floor. Luckily, we hadn't run into Frillish at all. I started up the steps and noticed Buizel picking something up nearby. I scrunched my eyes to see what it was and quickly warned him about the item's effects.

"This feels weird," Buizel said as he threw the purple glob between his hands, "but it looks edible to me!"

As Buizel put it in his mouth, I tried to explain the risk of eating Grimy Food. Once he swallowed the chewed-up-gum blob, I was ready to vomit myself. However, he quickly made a gross face and tensed up into paralysis. I sighed as I got out a Cheri Berry and eventually helped the weasel out of his status condition.

Goofiness aside, we slipped up the stairs and made it to the fifth floor of the dungeon. We were about to walk out into the open of one of the rooms when I heard someone speaking in the distance. I grabbed Buizel by the scruff of the neck and pulled him behind the shelter of a big-enough rock. In the near distance, I noticed a crescent-shaped shadow, but I quickly ignored the distraction and focused on Frillish's voice.

"Buizel likely isn't a main candidate," she told someone. "He isn't, but his friend—the Riolu that everyone else has a fetish for—definitely is. He's quick-witted, too. I think he made Buizel get onto me."

I looked over the rock to see a large panda Pokémon almost wearing a cape. I recognized the Pokémon as Pangoro, the evolved form of that Pancham grunt from before. The past two floors must have been kind enough to him in experience for him to level up enough. It also meant he was near a Dark-type when it happened.

"I can't see!" Buizel whisper-screeched. He looked over the rock, too, but he lost balance and fell to its side, exposing our cover. I quickly dragged him back and noticed the crescent shadow was gone. Frillish and Pangoro were suspicious, of course, and came to check out what made the noise.

I jumped out and used Brick Break on Pangoro, slamming a fist straight through his face. He fell over and angrily got back to his feet. Buizel used Aqua Jet on Frillish, but he quickly felt both awkward and nervous when the attack did no damage due to Water Absorb. Frillish smiled at Buizel's attack.

"Oh, hey Frillish!" Buizel said innocently. "I was looking for you! You wanna go out and get some milkshakes?"

Frillish grabbed Buizel by the throat and lifted him in the air. The pink-based Pokémon crushed Buizel's throat in her grip. He squealed and she smiled in pleasure.

"Actually, I was working on a move that would work out for the both of us," she said.

Frillish blinked. Her eyelashes created two small hearts that went right into Buizel's. He immediately became infatuated. I knew the last thought in his head before being struck by the hearts was the mission Whismur had sent us through before. I was ready to kill Pangoro then and there, a murder that would destroy my reputation, but I was ready to do it.

I got my first ready and used another Brick Break on Pangoro. I jumped up in the air and, just as Pangoro was using Slash. I dodged the swipes and ran along the Pokémon's long arm. My first crashed into his face, but Pangoro had already healed up with an Oran Berry when I was watching Buizel. This attack did slightly more than the last, but one more would finish the job.

My last Brick Break started with a sprint. I ran at the recovering Pangoro and fixed my fist to where it would kill him between the eyes. I knew the act was inhumane, but going after Black Ice was my job.

It was weird, that last attack. It felt like I was sliding through a barrier that made me entirely too weak to do anything. Going through the air was like jumping into a pool of jelly. I was going too slow, barely moving, and when my pause had ended, I was on the ground panting. I was lying on my stomach. On the ground in front of me was the crescent shadow of an almost-halo.

I looked up to see a bug's corpse staring blankly into my eyes. Its body was a shed exoskeleton. Three sticks that resembled wings protruded from either side of the immobile skin. The Pokémon was Shedinja, a rather interesting creature with terrible—and I mean terrible—HP but amazing immunities. I had used my Brick Break through the ghostly body of Shedinja and was temporarily trapped inside of it, sort of. The most I knew was that I was gasping for breath right after.

Pangoro used Vital Throw and knocked me against the rock that I was previously hiding behind. I looked to see Shedinja delicately turn around and face me. Pangoro was now holding Buizel, the captivated Pokémon clueless and ready to die, between his big, meaty arms. Frillish floated nearby and used Absorb, draining green bits of HP from Buizel's bar.

"I can keep going, Shed," she told the other Ghost-type.

"That's enough," Shedinja calmly said. He looked back toward me. "Hello, Riolu. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

I felt confusion surging through my body. I didn't know this Pokémon. I didn't know a Nincada, a Ninjask, and definitely not a Shedinja. I claimed not to know him in completely innocence, but the Pokémon only laughed.

"You Fighting-types always were the easiest to fool," he smiled, though not externally. He smiled through his words.

That phrase made my heart stop. My pupils dilated as I recognized that raspy voice from before, from the Beta Test. I thought back to the early floors of then. I was in a group of Fighting-types at the time. We went into a dungeon. None of us came out alive. I had noticed, off in the distance, the glimmer of two large blue diamonds in the distance. Under them, crooked and unnatural, was a disgusting, toothy smile.

"You've only cared about yourself," he said to me, though I could barely translate the words to make sense.

"No," I whispered. "That's impossible." I kept myself up against the rock as the Ghost-type floated over menacingly. He looked at me, the soulless eyes reflecting back nothing but darkness, and wheezed through his empty shell.

"Th-that's impossible," I repeated.

"You let that Sableye die so you could sleep at night, huh? I heard you worried about how you lost everyone, lost your own party, and you only cared about yourself. You've always put yourself in front of others. You've never been willing to face your consequences and risk anything."

The words caused me to wince at each pause, each period. I tried to rebuttal with my innocence, but nothing resulted.

"You didn't even want Buizel's sister when I sent the Mankey into a panic."

Buizel was luckily still infatuated enough to not hear that comment. I knew the trap was rigged back then, I knew it, but to know that I was so accurate, yet so far off? I felt my skin stiffen. I was blinking tears away. I didn't want to face this sort of senseless evil, not now. Not when I just earned my friend's trust back.

"I'm trying to do better now!" I shouted.

"You'll never do better. When Gothita died, you made it all about yourself. Again. You didn't mourn her loss and move on; you turned into a chump that wanted a pity party every minute."

I felt myself sweating. I didn't think sweat was programmed into the coding, but I couldn't confirm whether the sweat was real. My mind was sweating. I was facing the greatest evil in the game right here. Forget True Reality, forget my own selfishness. This was true villainy.

"Leave Buizel out of this," I said. "Kill me instead. I'd rather die than live this sort of punishment."

Shedinja spun around on some sort of axis in dramatic hilarity. " _This_ is what I'm talking about! First, you tell everyone it's not your fault Whismur died instead of comforting your friend about it, and now you're wanting to die so you don't have to face the consequences! This, Riolu, is why I'm personally after your death. I watch you succeed and leave the rest of your friends in your shadows. You want to rise above everyone else, but let me tell you this," he said.

Shedinja grew closer to my face until our noses were nearly about to touch. I looked in his shadowy eyes and, deep inside, I saw the figurative blue diamonds of death. The crooked smile, the glittering foreshadowing. It was all there. I screamed out for someone to stop him, for someone to save me, but nothing happened. I looked deep in his empty eyes as he replied.

"You will never rise above _me_ ," he finished.

I grabbed an Iron Thorn from my bag and stuck it up like a dagger. Shedinja dodged the attack and signaled for Pangoro to pay attention. The panda, enjoying my desperateness, came to his senses and stretched Buizel farther. Frillish prepared another Absorb attack.

"It's a shame that it has to end like this," Frillish told her boyfriend. "You spent so much money on me. I'm going to miss it, but I owe the boss a favor. I'm only following his rules."

"Gggghh," Buizel squeaked.

"So you're the boss?" I asked Shedinja.

Shedinja turned in a slight angle. "Let's say I'm just an associate. I wanted the pleasure to meet my favorite victim, but I didn't want it alone. The true boss lies in hiding, but still watches you. There's never a moment we aren't watching, Riolu. And judging. I've been judging since floor one."

I lost my momentary spike in confidence and quickly cowered back to the rock.

"Do you feel that adrenaline pumping? The emotion in the air? I remember seeing you use the Kecleon cheat on the first floor. Interestingly, I didn't recall that trick. Where'd you learn it?"

I held my Iron Thorn back in the air and Shedinja cowered slightly.

"Alright, alright. Look, your friend isn't a threat. Frillish's mission determined that much. You, on the other hand, are towards the top of the list. Killing me would only limit your life even more."

Up until this point, I was willing to kill even the lowly grunts like Pangoro. However, I knew that killing Shedinja would only haunt my dreams until I die. It was a death sentence. I didn't want to die like that. I couldn't die. I knew I was too aggressive but too hesitant to sacrifice myself. This was a game where lives matter, but mine mattered more to me. I put the Iron Thorn down at my side and trembled.

"That's more like it. Perhaps your cowardice is the reason why your happiness hasn't reached enough to evolve—every time we threaten your life, your tranquility, it goes down. You didn't gain anything when that bunny got ranked up to second in command. You weren't even happy for Buizel's newfound love. You're only happy for yourself."

He stared right in my face. "There's a prize on floor thirty-eight," he said. "There are many candidates for this prize. Just know there are others experiencing the same problems you have. If you have any shred of decency in your selfish mind, you'll try and help. Help them stay alive and get through this game."

"Why are you saying this? Do you want me to try and defeat you?"

Shedinja remained emotionless. "I _feed_ off of your will to survive."

I saw an opening to Buizel. I just had to use the Iron Thorn and throw some Escape Orbs. My idea let both of us live, but we'd be on the run. We had to be careful. This guild was on my heels nonstop. I lifted my weapon and threatened it straight at Shedinja.

"I dare you," he said.

I smiled. "Never dare me."

I threw the Iron Thorn. Shedinja moved into the shadows right before I could thrust it at him, but that's okay. That's what I was going for. The arrow soared near Pangoro, causing him to drop Buizel on the ground. Frillish backed away as the weapon came hurtling near. It slammed into Buizel's immobile body and caused a decent amount of damage.

"He missed!" Frillish squealed.

I grabbed an Escape Orb and threw it at Buizel. I started running toward him to block any interference, but the weasel quickly looked up from the impact of the arrow, saw the orb, and snatched it up. He used the orb and was teleported home without any interruption. Frillish and Pangoro watched the blue portal disappear as I stopped running, slid under Frillish, and used Payback to knock her into Pangoro. The attack didn't kill her, but it did significant damage. I saw the crescent-shape shadow disappear into the darkness provided by the overcast sky and overshadowing trees.

"Watch your back, Riolu," Frillish snarled. "If Shedinja doesn't get to you first, I'd love to watch the poison slowly drain your HP bar down like it did that cute little Goth."

I glared back at her with equal hatred in my eyes. "I hope you do, Frillish. I really hope you do."

I used the Escape Orb and quickly found myself in-between playable rooms. I was then thrown out of a green portal at the town floor and fell on top of a recovering Buizel. We both grunted and got off the ground. I was relieved we both made it out alive, but I had some questions first.

"Did you hear anything that happened?" I asked him.

Buizel shook his head. "I was too busy thinking about how perfect Frillish was," he said. "What happened?"

I thought of the whole selfish speech, the death threats given out, and Shedinja admitting he let Whismur die to break us up. I thought of how terrified I was to learn that beta Sableye was actually Shedinja, and he was alive, watching me. I thought of how insane I had been before, how paranoid I had felt, until Sableye was dead. I felt that insecurity come back like re-catching the flu.

The worry, the dread, the closure. Closure would help Buizel get over Whismur's death even more, but could I even muster enough courage to speak of it? Could I tell him why she died? I hadn't gotten to explain it fully to him; Frillish was always drawing attention away. Now that she's gone, and he's alone again, could I really make him feel so much more alone?

I had to tell him. He deserved to know. It was his sister. He had me now, so I'd offer him the support I had failed to give months ago. I would be a good best friend. I'd set things right. If he knew what happened, he'd be able to cope with it. Or he'd leave me again to save himself. I'd be really alone. I'd be the one who was left in the dark. He had to know, but I couldn't lose him again. I strained through the indecisiveness and quickly blurted out a phrase.

"Nothing really," I lied. My guilt grew twice its size when I saw the relief in his face. "They just tried to kill us like usual."

Buizel smiled. "Great! The last thing I ate was that Grimy Food…can we get some actual food? Is there a Pokémon McDonald's?"

I laughed at his terrible joke for the sake laughing. I kept my optimistic attitude up the whole night. Sure, it was late, we almost died, and I learned my nightmare is a reality. But you know what? I had my friend back, and that's all that matters to me.


	10. Chapter 10 - Golden Apples

January 15th, 2026

Floor 22

The twenty-second floor was named "Empty Island" for its lack of public housing. I could only guess this was the developers' way to enforce the guild bases and also keep the lower towns populated by at least a small margin. Empty Island did not distinguish itself as interesting by any means. When you think of an island, you might think about a tropical paradise. An extended vacation. Aside from a few restaurants and the first Move Reminder building, nothing about Empty Island stood out from the other floors. The beach was smaller than Laogai Lake's and the water was completely frigid. The sky was a duller blue than the perfect coloration of floor fourteen. The temperature felt a few degrees off, but I couldn't tell in which direction.

I walked through the busy town square and dodged the many people lingering in my way. It was only 7:30 AM, but I still felt like I was wasting time. Buizel told me to bring some breakfast home for us, but the only cheap restaurant (not that I was broke—I just don't want to waste my money) is the rather powdery pizza shop next to a restaurant with a beautiful aroma of pancakes and scrambled eggs. I didn't want to resist the breakfast, but I also didn't want to waste even just three thousand Poké on something I could live without.

I stepped into the restaurant and smelled the familiar pizza-making scent that I experienced when grieving over Gothita's death. I moved to a table near some people and sat down. I'd get Buizel's to go. An NPC walked up to me, spoke about a menu, and then flashed it on my screen. I scrolled through it and found a cheese pizza with bacon and sausage. That's breakfasty enough. As I waited for my pizza, I listened to the same Munchlax I had out-eaten a few months ago.

"…I wish I could find where the golden apple was, but someone read it in one of the books on this floor. I have no idea where you can even _start_ the quest."

My interest caught hold of Munchlax's quest talk and I gathered enough information about the golden apple quest. Golden apples were outrageously luxurious; they filled the belly and even caused its size to go up, so you could last a bit longer on floors. They were very, very expensive, and if you were one of the first to complete the quest, you could sell it to anyone for the right price. Basically, they were the actual gold of the real world. I wanted that gold.

"I heard Golden Warriors has looked all through town and spoke to every single NPC and still couldn't find it!" he said to his pizza-eating friends.

"That thoundth awethome!" Lickitung cheered.

I turned back in my chair and cleared my throat to grab Munchlax's attention. We locked eyes and I could almost feel the intensity. When he looked over at me, I could see the ferocity in his glare from losing the eating battle a while ago. He asked me what I wanted before turning back around and shoving his face full of pizza.

As my pizza arrived, I was still talking. I didn't bothering picking it up. "So you've checked all through town? And what about the limit of apples—if there isn't one, what's the point? Everyone can get one."

Munchlax shook his head. "This is a first-come, first-serve type of thing. I think this is one of those monthly or bimonthly quests that run out over time."

That would make sense, I admitted to myself. Short quests that were worth the trouble would sometimes be renewable to keep a town's population from hitting rock bottom. However, I'm sure the developers are aware that splitting up three hundred Pokémon (at best—we probably have closer to 250 now, but that's just my own guess) in fifty floors wouldn't give much of a population to everything.

Back to the point: I knew where the quest started. Like some other quests I've done, some are only initiated in the dungeon itself. Certain floors of a dungeon would have an indestructible NPC walking around with that sign above its head. Talking to those NPCs would make you temporarily untouchable as well, so it could be used as a strategy. However, the main point is that you then have a mission to do in the dungeon to keep you busy and energized. Going through fifty dungeons of so many floors would get dull fast, so, again, there were implementations to fix that. Therefore, the NPC was most likely on one of the floors of that dungeon.

I looked at Munchlax and left my pizza on my plate. "Thanks for the info," I told him before walking out. I didn't even eat my food, but after my attitude once Gothita died, I wasn't really hungry for it anymore.

I messaged Buizel and told him I'd instead be back for dinner. He started complaining and I eventually had to cut the connection off. I ran across the cobblestone floor of town and worked my way to the boundaries of town where the dungeon starts. I just had to make it to the portal.

Since it was on a first-come, first-serve basis, golden apples would lose their value once the location was leaked and people got greedy. I had to hurry and get the apples myself before they were ruined.

I walked outside of the city limits and into the dungeon portal, causing me to teleport out of the familiarity of the public setting. I was warped into a sandy dungeon this time, one that obviously focused on Water-types living on the shore of a beach. I would have to cover every room of every dungeon to find this NPC, but I knew it could be done. The first floor consisted mainly of Wingull and Krabby, so as long as I dodged the Flying-type attacks of the former and took little damage from the latter, I'd be set for at least to floor ten.

I started running through the dungeon and ducked from an Air Cutter attack. I threw my hand up and drew a rock from under the sand, knocking the Wingull out in one hit. Rock Tomb may be a weaker move, but it had enough power to kill most of everything on this floor. I knew, though, that I'd have to get rid of it for some other coverage move. It's hard to keep your arsenal the same when everyone else is getting new level-up moves. Mine stopped being useful a long time ago. With moves like Copycat, where was I supposed to get new power from? I'd just have to wait and see.

. . .

Buneary walked through town with her Silk Scarf trailing close behind her. She had just had a fantastic breakfast at the Precious Pancakes restaurant, a breakfast store "known" for its pancakes, scrambled eggs, and luxurious interior. The taste of the rich maple syrup felt amazing sliding down her rabbit throat. After paying her bill, she was off to look around.

She had Combusken get as much information about the golden apple quest for Scyther, per his request, and had just sent the information when she got back a rather angry reply that was ushering her back home. She sighed and went her usual route into spawning on floor twelve.

When she had made it to the floor, she was greeted by several Golden Warriors guards. They took either side of her and walked her through the streets. She struggled to let them control her like that, but she couldn't shake their grip. Machoke and Hitmonchan were strong Pokémon that weren't bound to disobey their leader. As their second-in-command, Buneary was beginning to experience the tortures of power—the need for protection and escorts.

"I'm fine, you buffoons," she spat.

"Boss's orders," Machoke grunted.

Hitmonchan raised a fist in the air. "Don't try running out this time, please. You may be ranked over us, but it's our job to protect you."

Buneary sighed. "Thanks for your concern, I know you're just doing what you do."

The three of them walked down the road and back to the towering Golden Warriors base. As the biggest guild in the server, it was their duty to own the best base on the best floor. While Buneary didn't exactly like the boringness of floor twelve, she at least appreciated its simplicity. They were let inside the building and Audino cleared them through to the boss's room.

Scyther was fumbling with some paperwork again like last time. He looked up to see Buneary pushed through the door by her guards. He smiled and asked about her accommodations, but she started to get angry.

"Scyther, I don't need to be walked like I'm a dog!"

The leader sighed. His green skin was cracked and covered in sweat—something was wrong with him. When she asked, she was met with a short burst of anger.

"Leave my own problems alone, Buneary! Why do you always act like something's wrong with me? Like I'm losing my own sanity?"

She was surprised at his rather…casual, yet panicked, tone. Usually, he was proper and condescending. Today, though, he seemed on his toes. What was going on with him?

"Sir, is there anything I can, uh, do for you? You don't seem yourself today," she asked earnestly.

Scyther blinked hard. "I'm fine. I do have a mission for you," he said, but then quickly added "and your guards."

"Why do I have to have guards? I was just eating breakfast on my own—do I really need to be followed like some new employee?"

Scyther stood up from his chair. "When I tell you to do something, you're sure as hell gonna do it!"

Buneary cringed from the bluntness of his words. She'd never been so shocked by the rather-collected individual.

"Sir, I'm s-sorry. Please, just calm do—"

Scyther jumped across his table, pushed Buneary against the wall, and put a scythe up threateningly. She screamed and he started yelling in reply. "I don't have to calm down. Buneary, you have no idea what's going on. If you don't want to be escorted, then I'll gladly demote you back to a basic grunt. You can go back to making minimum wage and living with thirty people in a big room. Is that clear? I don't have time for your rebelliousness."

"Y-yes!" she choked.

Scyther walked back away and went back to his paperwork. "The golden apple quest is based somewhere in the dungeon, reports say. No one's found anything in town, so I'm sending you—and your guards, mind you—to the dungeon to find this golden apple. It's, what, eight o'clock right now? If you're not back by five in the evening, I'll be very disappointed in you."

"Understood," Buneary whispered.

She began to walk out, but she stopped when Scyther seemed to want to say something else.

"One last thing—stay _away_ from that Riolu."

Buneary nodded uncertainly and walked out of the building wondering what on earth was wrong with Scyther.

. . .

After eleven floors of sweeping through the weak spawners, I finally made it to the twelfth floor, where I soon learned was the floor for the NPC. I had walked through half the dungeon when I found him, a tubby pink Pokémon known as Wigglytuff. The Pokémon had giant blue eyes that reminded me of the moon.

"Hello, friend~" the Pokémon sang.

I looked around awkwardly. "Hi…?"

"I'm looking for something, but I'm awfully tired. Do you think you could find it for me?" it asked.

"What item is it?" I replied before accepting.

"It's called the Golden Apple, the greatest apple in the world. I'll give you a very generous gift if you give me one~"

I smiled. "Sure, I'll accept the quest."

"Thanks, friend~ It should be on one of the higher floors. Whenever I think about a golden apple, I just wanna—I wanna—I wanna," it said, but it began shaking all over as if to pass out.

"Hey, calm it down!" I insisted.

The dungeon flashed in light twice as the Pokémon's hands raised up high. It breathed in deeply. "YOOM-TAAAH!" it screamed, knocking me onto the ground.

"Yeah…" I said, trailing off. I quickly left the Pokémon and continued slashing my way through the dungeon.

By about floor twenty-five, the dungeon started getting trickier. I wished I had messaged Buizel to come, but he only replied that he was trying to evolve when I asked on one of the earlier floors. I was alone the whole way through. The sand was warm on my bare feet and I kept running, but I only caused sand to fly in the air and settle back on the ground.

I looked at the beautiful detail of the unique footprints in the sand. It was hard to appreciate things like that in the game when my life is on the line, but I always saw the intricate aspects of a game's design. The light breeze picked up a few grains of sand and stung my legs as I kept going through the dungeon. I killed two Kingler with a Bulk Up-boosted Brick Break combo on each. The experience I got wasn't impressive, but still. I eventually made it up the last set of stairs I needed to go through to make it to the thirtieth floor, a break room. It was in that room that many things happened.

. . .

Buneary dodged three Wing Attacks from spawned Pelipper and let Machoke and Hitmonchan struggle with the rest. She had purposely led them into a Monster House on the twenty-eighth floor, a Monster House those slightly-under-leveled guards couldn't handle so well. When she saw an Air Cutter hit Hitmonchan for critical damage, she threw an Escape Orb at him and made him teleport out of there. She had Oran Berries in her bag, but why waste them on guards she didn't need?

Scyther would have to get over it. She knew doing that would press his buttons further, but he's holding something back himself. He'd have to come clean eventually, and she'd change the subject of her rebelliousness on his weird antics. Machoke took another blow from Pelipper and Buneary quickly pushed him against the wall. He paused for a second to recover. Buneary grabbed his finger, put an Escape Orb in his hand, and moved his hand to touch the "use" button.

"What are you doing?" he asked her.

"Saving your life…and mine," she smiled. "I'll be there in just a minute."

Buneary tapped his finger on the button and he was beamed out of the dungeon. She was finally alone. She turned around and used her ears to smack the Pelipper with a Dizzy Punch. She collected all the gummis from the successful endeavor and ran up the stairs to floor twenty-nine.

Buneary kept walking through the sinking sand and eventually came across the last set of stairs. In front of it was a Kingler, a Pokémon with very high physical stats. She would have a tough time with this guy. Buneary let him chase her away from the stairs and she jumped over its head.

Kingler raised its claw up in surprise and prepared an attack Buneary feared—Guillotine. Getting hit just once would instantly cause her to shatter in the dungeon. She was over its head; perhaps she would out-speed the claw? She kept going and eventually flew right through the open claw. It closed, razor-sharp, on itself as she ran up the stairs to the safe room on floor thirty.

When she was done climbing the stairs, Buneary found the room surprisingly different and relaxing. Along the shore of a beach was a substantially large apple orchard. Big apples expanded beyond her vision; they probably went on forever. It was a weird setting; the unfamiliarity of so many trees standing right by the sand looked so weird, but it was somehow artistic.

She went into her inventory on the menu screen and selected a brown sac, which is a specialized item that allowed you to store many of the same item inside it. While the item might sound broken in terms of viability, it hampered a Pokémon's ability to fight since you had to first select the bag, open it, and _then_ get your items out. Therefore, its actual use was not as impressive as expected.

Buneary opens up her brown bag and begins pulling off Big Apples from the short trees. It was weird having to actual pick items herself; she was used to just being near it and collecting the item automatically. She figured it was probably because the rest areas are meant to be rather lifelike. Actually working to get the item felt more human. It actually felt _real._

The Rabbit Pokémon kept searching for the rare golden apple in the trees that housed only big apples. She had no idea where they were, but she figured every few trees might have one if she was lucky. She picked the red apples and dumped them in her bag. Since she was the only one around, she left the bag in her original spot and began walking around to get more apples in other trees. With no luck so far, she was determined to get those apples if they killed her.

. . .

I had been picking for several minutes already. My brown bag, which was convenient enough in this particular circumstance, was about halfway full. I went onto another group of trees to find a golden apple. The apple I still haven't been able to find. Big apples were plentiful and regular apples were uncommon but not surprising to find. I just threw those on the ground and let them despawn. Why get the small ones when there are plenty of bigger fruits?

As I was walking, I nearly tripped over a brown bag that was foreign to me. It wasn't mine, but it was placed in such a way to suggest it was there for the picking. I couldn't help myself. I looked in the bag and grabbed as many apples as my blue arms could carry. I ran off from the area and dumped the apples into my bag, making it fill nearly to the top. Seeing none of those apples were golden, I gave up on going back and just decided to keep looking in the trees. I walked away from my bag and began wandering into more distant areas in the woods.

. . .

Buneary hurried back to her bag with a stack of apples organized into her small arms. She dumped them into the bag and noticed that they only went up to about the place they were before. Did the apples sink down into the bag and just get recorded into some sort of memory? If they did, why hadn't the others? Buneary frowned and kept walking.

She wandered off and found another bag leaning against the tree. It was open, contents visible, and she felt the impulse to take from it. After all, it was like the bag was just screaming "take me!" However, she couldn't just take the bag itself—she didn't want to carry the burden of stealing so heavily. She'd just take a few apples to fill her bag back up. Once she got a load, she ran off.

. . .

I came back to find my bag was much lighter than before. I dropped my apples in and found I was still short a few before filling it up. Agitated, I decided to go back to that brown bag from before so I could get the apples and not have to worry about anything else. I'd keep the big apples in that bag and keep the golden ones in my inventory. The big apples would be perfect to eat, and while the golden apples would take up space in my personal storage, I wouldn't be holding onto them for long.

I ran back to the other bag and stuck my hand in. I felt sort of bad for stealing the apples, but I noticed that the bag was actually at the same amount it was before I took some the first time. I figured they respawned and happily took as many as I could and ran back toward my own bag. After this, I would be done!

. . .

Buneary came to her brown bag and saw it lying down sideways on the ground. One of the apples had fallen out of it and then dematerialized as a result. She screeched and put the apples she stole into the bag. It still wasn't quite full, though it was decently heavy. She knew this strangeness meant there was someone stealing from her. She took her bag, hoisted it over her shoulder (in hopes of getting a few more apples along the way), and ran around the circumference of a very, very big tree trunk that stood higher than all the others in the forest.

She didn't bother looking around. She just wanted to move areas. Buneary kept running from her predator and hoped to not run into him.

. . .

I happily walked back to my bag with apples stacked up to my nose. I put the apples in my bag, but I noticed it was lighter _again._ I cursed under my breath and threw the bag over my shoulder. Though it was heavy, I wanted to get a few more along the way. Who knows, maybe I'd get to fit a bunch of golden ones in there?

This meant there was a thief around. I started running and eventually found myself going around this big tree trunk that seemed to be in the center of the huge rest area room. I kept running until I was getting exhausted. My slightly-curved path was riddled with roots to trip over and it was like driving around a permanent blind curve. I couldn't see anything. Which explained what happened next.

I was running and eventually slammed into something. My bag of apples went flying and spilled out everywhere, but I noticed there were more apples and another brown bag, too. The thief was right in front of me. The apples were surrounded by bits of green from the grass in between them; it looked like a rose garden of sorts.

I fell down on the ground and found myself nose-to-nose with my thief: Buneary. I was holding myself up as if about to do a pushup and she was lying straight down. I found my face burning red with a blush and saw hers doing the exact same. I look into her eyes and see a deep sense of temptation, but something was holding her back. Either way, I couldn't get off of her.

"Sorry about that," I smiled.

"I-it's no problem," Buneary said as she turned to pick up apples.

Though our bags' contents were nearly all spilled out, they were all around us. I quickly turned around in embarrassment and went to pick mine up, too. I felt terrible for smiling—her words were so cold. As I went to pick up an apple, they all despawned due to inactivity. We watched in horror as our hard work disintegrated into tiny glass shards and disappeared in the slight breeze. I turned to Buneary with a look of regret on my face.

"Riolu, you idiot! All my apples are gone! What am I supposed to do now?" she yelled.

I quickly felt uncomfortable. "You know, if you weren't so _uptight_."

Buneary gasps over-dramatically and freaks out on me. "I am _not_ uptight! You're such a lazy, stupid, clumsy, cute little—" She stopped when she said that. "I—"

I smirked. "Cute, huh? You're not so bad yourself."

Buneary's face turned red and she gritted her teeth. "Shut up, that's not what I meant!" she shouted as she pushed me hard against the giant tree trunk.

I thumped against it and fell on my butt. She raised her eyebrows as I rubbed my head in pain. Something fell down in my lap and caused the both of us to look straight up at the large tree's leaves. Hundreds of golden apples hung delicately from its branches.

"I can't believe," I started to say, but I stopped.

"We didn't check in the most obvious place," she said, which was pretty much the ending to my sentence.

Within an hour, we had knocked down every golden apple that had a weak enough connection to the tree. We filled our bags full and I began to get hungry. Now I knew there were big apples everywhere, but how often would I get to eat a golden one? I grabbed one out of my bag and munched on it.

I felt like I was eating something that took the word "fancy" to an entirely new level—something like what caviar or a triple cheeseburger from McDonald's would probably feel like. The apple was so perfect that I gobbled it up without even tasting the rest. I had never felt so alive eating that apple. While I ate, Buneary scoffed at my hunger taking the best of me.

"You actually ate one of the rarest items in the game?" she judged.

I stopped chomping on my second apple, which I had gotten while she started speaking, and looked at it in guilt. I looked back at her for a second, but then I just kept eating. I finished the second apple as she kept going with her anger.

"I can't believe you're going to eat all of your apples!"

"You're right," I said slyly. I grabbed an apple out of her bag and ran off into the sand with it.

Buneary chased after me. I could almost see the steam coming out of her cotton ears. I kept running and eventually went into the cold ocean water that washed over the sand. Buneary followed close behind me and I quickly turned to see her push me back slightly to loosen my hold on the apple. She snatched in right up and I stuck my hand in the water as she turned her back. She began skipping away when I slapped some water and drenched her with it.

She turned around with a certain intensity in her eyes and used Dizzy Punch, again knocking me on my butt, but this time in the water. She laughed as I was spitting out the salty brine and quickly stood up. I saw her bite into her apple in victory as I recovered from the blow. Everything but my feet, which were still in the water, quickly became dry without even shaking my body around. It was pretty cool.

"Nice splash," she smirked in between bites.

I rolled my eyes and smiled simultaneously. I couldn't help but love this Buneary over the uptight leader she's become. Her coming out of her Scyther-made shell was really nice to experience once more.

We played on the beach for several more hours. However, once it started getting closer to my in-between-lunch-and-supper meal, which Buizel got me stuck on, I found myself hungry again. Buneary happily got two sandwiches out of her inventory and brought me over to a picnic table that was surprisingly already on the beach. I guessed this was a nice getaway spot for those travelers who like to battle but also like to get a break from it all.

We sat at the wooden furniture and ate our sandwiches. I took a bite out of mine and quickly finished the rest. The sandwich was amazing! It had everything I liked on it already, which was surprising enough. I had no idea Buneary could do something like this—it might come in handy in the future.

"I didn't know you could cook!" I exclaimed.

Buneary's mouth twisted. She scratched the back of her head and sighed. "Yeah, uh, I bought these at a deli. Last time I tried cooking, my mom had to call for the fire department. I have zero talent," she trailed off, but I laughed along with her.

"I bought these at a generic Subway that was on this floor," she explained.

We chuckled again and I cut up another of my golden apples to eat along with the sandwich since I was still sort of hungry. She cleared her throat and began speaking casually.

"How old are you?" she asked me.

"Seventeen now," I said. "I actually just turned seventeen last week." It was on the third, but I didn't bother explaining any further.

Buneary kept eating. "I'll be turning seventeen in May," she explained.

"Oh," I said awkwardly. "I'm from California, what about you?"

"Florida," she said with a slight hesitation.

Great, we lived on opposite sides of the country. I guessed it could be worse, but dang! Still, what mattered now was that we're all in a game together. Our backgrounds don't affect us like they did in the real world.

"What's your name?" she suddenly asked me.

"Aaron," I replied. Only she and Buizel knew my real name now, but I sort of hoped she'd ask for it.

"Brooke," she said before I could ask her.

Brooke was a nice name, but I could only see her as Buneary. We kept talking about family, school, and ultimately the future. I couldn't help but feel lame because of my terrible answers to her serious questions.

"What's your major?" she asked.

"Excuse me?"

Buneary stopped. "What do you want to be when you graduate?" she rephrased.

"Oh," I said. "Something with video games? I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I've just been doing whatever I do."

"Oh," she repeated, but she quickly took the stage herself. "I want to get involved in politics, so law school is my future. That's why I took up your idea to help run that guild…"

"The guild that's taking over your life?" I asked in a rebuttal. I got no response for a long time.

"So did you hear about how Skarmory's losing control of his could?" she changed the subject.

We talked and ate for a long time, but once it started to get hot, I eventually migrated over to one of the nearby trees that defined the boundary of the orchard and the beach. I put myself under the shade of the tree and laid back. Buneary quickly finished eating and sat, albeit uncomfortably, nearby. It was four o'clock at this point.

"I have to get going soon," she said to herself.

"Why?" I asked, but I quickly figured it out. "Scyther?"

She nodded. "I'm in the guild to get things done, Riolu. I want to get out of here. Don't you want to get home and see your family, your friends?"

I didn't know what to say. I mean, I did miss my family, but something felt wrong. I felt like I had to tell her about it, too, so I sucked in my stomach, risked my pride, and opened myself to pure humiliation.

"Of course, but…don't you ever feel like there's a part of you that doesn't want to?"

She waited for a second. "Yeah, I guess so. A part of me actually likes it here. Aside from the fighting and death, it's so calm and the Pokémon here are so real. You know, it's been nearly half a year and I feel like I've lived here my whole life. I almost don't want to leave. We've been through so much so far and we've all worked so hard. You and I—we've worked so hard. I don't want to leave the guild, the fighting—"

I looked her deep in the eyes and forced her to look back into mine. My face was at her level. We were both sitting in the grass, leaning against a tree, looking at each other. I finally spoke. "Buneary, I don't…I don't want to leave _you_ ," I whispered.

Buneary's eyes glimmered as she fought back the urge to cry. "Riolu, I can't— _we_ can't—do this. I have to stay away from you. Something's wrong with Scyther and I think we're both targets and I—I don't want you to have to go through something again." Tears started falling from her eyes.

I grabbed her brown shoulders and kept our vision connected. "Buneary, I don't care about any of those things. Whenever I'm around you, I feel indestructible. I'm the strongest I've ever been. We're going to get you through this. I will personally send you home. I can promise that. But I can't promise that I'll stay away."

Buneary choked on her tears. "Riolu, it's…it's not easy being a leader. I can't do this. I can't put you in danger knowing—"

I moved in and connected my mouth with hers. I put one hand on the side of her small chin and another on the back of her head. She stiffened up, but she didn't fight back. I kept my lips connected to hers and let the warmth from them ease my mind into a sort of happiness. It was like I unlocked some sort of enlightenment.

I closed my eyes. My arms grew bigger and spikes shot from my wrists. My torso extended and became more slender. My legs grew out longer and my ears shot up from my head. I felt so much stronger. My body was overcome with extreme emotion, an emotion not even conceivable back on the first floor.

Buneary, too, changed. Her ears fell from being perked up and grew much longer in length. Her body became shaped much more appropriately and she grew to exactly my height now. She became even more beautiful. Her new look was so much more…feminine than her previous form. We looked at each other and smiled. It was a new chapter in our lives.

Though the evolutions were amazing themselves, Bu-I mean, Lopunny and I fell asleep in the shade of the tree. I woke up at seven-thirty in the afternoon and found Lopunny snug in my armpit. Remembering the fact she needed to leave earlier, I quickly woke her up and saw the Rabbit Pokémon freak out.

"Scyther's going to kill me!" she screamed ash she sprang up. She smacked her head on a branch upon realizing she grew so much and quickly rubbed the pain away.

I ducked under the branch and pulled myself to my feet. I went to grab the bags of golden apples, but she quickly shook her head as she checked her menu for the many messages that were sure to come.

"Oh no," she whined. "He's really mad. I can't bring those apples with me. If he knows I got so many, he'll want to know why I was so late—"

"And he'll want to know why you were with me," I finished. "Just take the apples and say you lost track of time while picking."

She shook her head. "I can't do that. He'll know. I'm a terrible liar." She pulled an Escape Orb out of her inventory and looked back at me. I was just staring at her panicking and she realized how rude she was being in all this sincerity.

"Rio, thanks for the evening. I…I needed that," she grinned. "Oh, and by the way: that's a good look for you. Strong, yet sensitive."

She winked at me before using the item and beaming herself out of the dungeon. I stayed for a moment before realizing I had lost her to Scyther again. I wanted her for myself. Perhaps I'd have to work around the guild rather than be its replacement. I shrugged, grabbed the bags of apples, and put them in my inventory. I had to hurry to get my next mission done.

. . .

Lopunny walked into the office and was ready to be demoted on the spot. It was eight o'clock at night—twelve hours after Scyther had told her to go on the quest in the first place. She was bummed out, but she had so many compliments and stares as she went on her way in that she felt a bit better about herself. She went into his room and pecked on his door. He let her in, but his voice sounded firm. She tiptoed inside and sat in a chair with her back pressed against the seat and her feet stuck in the ground.

"I'm so sorry for being late and not having the apples and not answering my messages and just showing up and not even replying back and not telling you what happened and why I evolved and how I should have done better and how I wanted to keep my job and how I'd let you lower my pay and that I didn't have the apples—wait did I say that already?"

Scyther cocked his head and looked at her with amusement. "Looking like a fine soldier, Ms. Lopunny. I do have a question: what are you talking about? I understand the part about your tardiness, which is not an issue, but the empty-handedness? I already got the confirmation from our lovely Ms. Audino saying the two full, well one wasn't quite full, bags of golden apples were sitting in her office. Apparently you snuck in there when she was on break and left a note? Awfully considerate of you, I'd say. Most people would lose themselves and flip out over nothing."

Lopunny's face turned to utter shock and she laughed uncertainly for a second. "Oh, oh yeah. I guess I forgot about that!" she beamed.

He looked at her seriously now. "I heard you got rid of your escorts."

"You mean my body guards? I didn't need them."

Scyther shook his head. "Lopunny, I know this is above your comprehension right now, but there is a greater threat going on. You'd be surprised at how unsafe you are without those escorts. Please treat them with more respect next time or I may have to keep you here." By the end, he had a smile on his face. "Now get out of my office! I'm expecting someone in three minutes and you're taking up all the space with those ears of yours."

Lopunny smiled and skipped out of his office. She went down the hallway and eventually to her bedroom, but she stopped in the doorframe and looked outside a window.

"Lucario, you are just something else," she whispered with a smile before going into her bedroom for the night.

. . .

After I left the twelfth floor, I went with my one apple to Wigglytuff. I only got the TM for Hyper Beam, which I didn't want. Other than that, the rest of my day went well. Buizel did end up evolving today. Floatzel had a cool inner tube running down his neck and a much fiercer look in his eyes. He was definitely a lot stronger as well. The only problem now (for him, anyway) was the fact that he was now several inches shorter than me. I gloated as I closed the door to our rented two-bedroom apartment.

"It's not fair! We were the same height!"

I shrugged. "What can I say? At least you didn't shrink."

"I may as well have!" Floatzel muttered. "And the worst part is that you didn't bring any apples! Did you eat one?"

I nodded my head. "I had probably six. They were really good. Today was really good. It was amazing. The touch, the warmth, the spreading joy in my body. I never felt so alive then."

Floatzel raised his eyebrows. "I'm guessing we're not still talking about apples?"

I blushed. "Oh, uh, no."

"Buneary?" he asked.

"Lopunny," I corrected.

"Oooo!" he teased.

The two of us shared a few comments about our evolutions, but I could only think about Lopunny. She was the only thing on my mind.

"Hello?" Floatzel shouted. He waved his hand in front of my face. "Earth to Rio! I have a helpful tip for you: watch out for girls, they may turn out to be rival spies that are trying to kill you and your best friend."

We both laughed and he walked over to his bedroom and stopped short. I turned out the living room light and went to my door as well.

"Well, Lucario," he said. "I'm happy for you. Truly happy. I wish the best of luck to you two."

"Thanks," I said. "I'll be sure to find someone for you, too, Floatzel. The game's not over yet. If only I hadn't given those apples away to Lopunny, I'd let you try one."

Floatzel smiled. "Thanks, bro."

He went into his room and closed his door as I did mine. I was preparing to turn out the light when suddenly his door swung open.

"You gave away _both_ bags? Oh, come on!" he shouted.

I smiled at the humor. It had actually been a great day. After all the death and betrayal going on in this game, it was nice to have a decent day off. I got to spend it with one of the most important people in my Pokémon life. I got to evolve because of the bond I developed with the girl of my dreams. Now I would just hope I could win her over from the work that took over her life. I turned out the light, got into bed, and closed my eyes. Now I would just hope.


	11. Chapter 11 - Halfway to Nowhere

February 12th, 2026

Floor 25

She stepped outside of her office and made a beeline for the elevator that resided within the wall a short distance away from the door to her work station. Lopunny was a very busy guild member; she was second-in-command in the strongest guild, the Golden Warriors. She rarely had time to do anything.

Nevertheless, she had made a promise to Lucario to get the fourteenth off. He promised to get her a nice dinner back on the twenty-third floor, the ritziest floor revealed in the Arkaés region. The hard part was getting a confirmation from Lord Scyther. She had tried to bring it up in a conversation for a week now, however she always managed to chicken out or get interrupted before she could ask for a temporary guild leave.

Not this time. Lopunny set a meeting with the player conveniently in the guild meeting room. She stepped into the elevator and clicked the "down" button to the second floor. Suddenly, a small beam of laser light scanned her body and confirmed her involvement with the guild. She waited patiently as the machine began to lower itself down to the desired floor.

Just asking for a leave made Lopunny feel guilty, but what if Scyther was to ask why? She knew that he would say no to Lucario's involvement. The two already hated each other and had a fierce competition. With Lucario fully-evolved now, the type advantage Scyther had before wasn't handy anymore. He was more threatening than ever with his attacking skills and indisputable speed. Even for just a base 90-speed Pokémon, Lucario was incredibly fast.

The elevator doors open and Lopunny stepped out into the darkness of the meeting room. The metal doors slid shut and she looked around for her boss.

"Scyther?" she squeaked.

She heard something move, so Lopunny quickly turned the light on. Standing in front of her was Scyther, and behind him was the entirety of his guild. Everyone was watching her with a smile. Was this some sort of intervention? What was happening? Lopunny put a hand to her mouth and grabbed Scyther over to her privately.

"What's going on?"

Scyther grinned. "Hello, Lopunny," he said ignorantly.

"Answer my question."

He shrugged. "They just heard the news."

Lopunny scanned the crowd. "What news?"

Scyther forced her to let go of her grip and began his explanation. "I was thinking about your success these past few floors. You've really given your all, actually; you saved three of our guild members in the last boss fight by yourself. Even I was shocked. You have this strategy to your movements that I've never seen before."

Lopunny nodded quietly. She had noticed the game seemed to work its way through her head. It was like a huge chess game, but Lopunny forced the game to let her win.

"And so," he continued, "everyone is here to congratulate you."

Lopunny froze. Congratulate? Everyone had already expressed their gratitude immediately after the boss fight.

"I'm promoting you to co-leader of the Golden Warriors. I'm no longer your boss; we're a team. We've always been a team," he said softly. "You've always been there, so you deserve this."

This was great: Lopunny could get her own hours fixed to whatever she pleased. She began thinking of dinner with Lucario and prepared to tell Scyther about the vacation time.

"Thank you, sir," she said shakily.

Scyther nodded. "And, for your first assignment, I want you to lead this boss fight. I'm going on a quest to get a Metal Coat," he began losing his voice towards the end of that remark.

"Why evolve now?" she asked. Scyther wasn't losing his power at all yet—evolution seemed rather hasty.

The leader looked off into some distant thought, but his face was paralyzed with fear for just a millisecond. "I need a new look," he eventually said. "Good luck with the boss fight today, Lopunny. I'm counting on your leadership strategy. Don't let me down."

"Th-thank you, sir," she stuttered.

The room cheered and Scyther quickly ran out of the building. Sweat was building up on his forehead by the time he started skipping for the elevator. Lopunny frowned at the sudden obstacle in her path. The leadership position was great, but now she couldn't do _anything._ That boss fight would only lead to after-training and overviews of the party formations over the next three days. She'd miss her plans for the fourteenth. Lopunny waited for everyone to eventually leave before realizing she went from vacation plans to boss fight control in a matter of seconds. The exact opposite of what she wanted ended up smacking her in the face. She buried her hands in her face and struggled to pick which of the two people she needed in her life: a leader like Scyther as a partner, or a fighter like Lucario to appreciate life?

. . .

Floatzel and I swaggered through the snowy town with our heads held high. He gripped his flotation sac and I carefully put one paw in front of the other while managing to keep my eyes mostly straight ahead. Since my evolution, I was at the top of the charts no doubt. My stats were high, my one-on-one strength was nearly unmatched, and I had a certain winning streak in Last Attack bonuses. Floatzel, as a supportive best friend, pretended that he, too, accomplished all of those achievements. Every girl in town that we'd meet ended up hearing the same story about how Floatzel distracted the floor boss while he let me take the Last Attack out of friendship.

"There I was—in a stare-down with a Phione. Two Water-types, but only one would emerge victorious. I glared that Phione down like she was a bag of garbage and it was trash day. We exchanged this silent glare that knew one of us would die, and we both knew it wouldn't be me. I kept that Phione out of its wits and let my ol' pal Lucario, here, take her out. I could've sliced that Manaphy scum in half with my Slash attack, but I decided my buddy needed the experience. You know?" he said to every crush he had.

Some of them would smirk, some would giggle, but they all knew I was the strong solo player that one-shot the boss from the Floor Ten. When Floatzel would leave for the bathroom, they would come ask me questions and make me tell stories. Still, I had to let Floatzel get the credit; his girlfriend did turn out to be an assassin. I couldn't just let him be alone this whole time. I kind of owed it to him.

Floatzel turned to me as we strolled today and made a motion toward a group of girls. "I'm gonna check out what's going on…you know, see if they need help? Catch you at the boss battle!" he called.

I smiled and shook my head at his innocence. It was good to see him get past Whismur, but I then realized he may just be putting on a show for me. I frowned to think he would conceal his emotions, but I had to let him do whatever. I couldn't bother to organize another party again, nor would I even consider being in one. I hinted at Lopunny to quit her own guild, but she's dead-set on maintaining her position. Hopefully she got that vacation time.

Floor twenty-five was in a snowy environment. The town's name was actually Canada, which brought a couple chuckles when we went up the stairs last time. The dungeon had a blizzardy effect to it that raised the movement of Ice-types. I remember saving Marowak from a speedy Ice Shard that a Piloswine dished out from behind. We lost a few people in this dungeon, so the boss was obviously a feared threat. I couldn't help but have this itch to battle it, though, because I would help the survivors get that 50% mark. We just had to be careful.

It was actually snowing now. The coldness in the temperature wasn't perfectly felt, so the weather actually didn't bother me. As a Californian, I'm not exactly used to snow, so this is actually enjoyable to have the fun of snowballs and the lack of true feeling in the cold. That small detail, the lack of true feeling of hot and cold, was one of the very few reminders that this wasn't a reality. True, I was a Pokémon, but everything felt so real. If I didn't know better, I could have accepted this as real from the get-go.

As I walked along the slippery stone sidewalk of the busy town, I saw Combusken running with her Speed Boost ability. I waved to get her attention and eventually managed to slow the fiery chicken down. We embraced and chattered casually, but, as usual, I got down to business fast.

"Any new info on the boss?" I asked.

Combusken shrugged. "I only know that it's a big leap from that Tyranitar boss we beat a few weeks ago. After all, it is an increment of five _and_ the halfway point of the game."

That was true. Out of the fifty floors we had to defeat, we were already halfway done in about half a year. At this rate, we'd be done around the game's one-year anniversary. However, I had a feeling something would go wrong because the ride so far hasn't been smooth by any means.

"Thanks," I said, but quickly remembered to add something. "Any leads on floor thirty-eight?"

Combusken shook her head. "I've got nothing. There are no special items that I know of," she frowned.

She quickly ran off once we appropriately said our goodbyes. The only other information she had was to visit the Move Reminder's house, which I'd already planned on doing based on the rumors spreading around town. Just like in the main series games, Heart Scales were required to remember lower-level moves in my learnset. I only had three Heart Scales, so I'd have to be careful when selecting my moves.

I scurried down the street and eventually met the small building. It had a blue roof and a cabin-y feel to it. I opened the door and found a Smeargle NPC. He was painting a picture of the move Blizzard. I closed the door as he went to put logs in a small fireplace. He saw me and walked over to his painting. Suddenly, an exclamation point symbol appeared over his head. I decided to interact.

"Hello," I said.

"Good morning!" the Pokémon said as it painted.

"You're the Move Tutor?" I asked.

The dog-based Pokémon nodded. "I know every move in the world. I've sketched everything I've seen. Do you want to learn an old move? It'll cost you a Heart Scale."

I pulled a Heart Scale out and gave it to Smeargle. Suddenly, a small screen slipped up. I looked at the move list and scrolled through the many entries. I was now at level 50—exactly halfway to the maximum level. In the list, I first saw Aura Sphere. I quickly clicked the move and forgot Brick Break. I then handed one of my other moves and clicked Extremespeed. This move had _double_ the power of Quick Attack and an even better priority, so why wouldn't I test it out?

My last choice would be Close Combat. I knew I'd learn the move soon anyways, but I needed that move for this battle. I put my paw up to the screen and scrolled for it. I must have messed up my scrolling because I accidentally picked a different move—a move I didn't want to think about. It would take too long to get another Heart Scale in time for the boss raid, so I knew I just had to tough this one out. I thanked Smeargle and left him to his painting. I stepped out of the small cabin and quickly felt the presence of someone else watching from outside.

I closed my eyes and let my ears rise as I focused on my surroundings. I didn't know if my character had aura powers like in the anime or movies, but I did know I heard the flapping of wings. I jumped from the cold stone and landed nearby a bush on the outskirts of town. Upon my landing, a Golbat flew out in surprise and went screeching in another direction. I saw the green cursor indication that this was a player. I decided to test out my Extremespeed move and kicked off the ground. I started darting quickly toward the Golbat and saw the distance shrink between us. However, when I tried to stop, I found a problem—I couldn't. I kept running past the Golbat, who was now confused, and kept running through everything else. My legs wouldn't stop. Extremespeed was a very powerful priority move that I'd have to work on during some improvised boss-fighting.

When I eventually stopped, it was by hitting the immortal object known as a wall. I slammed into one of the local restaurants and fell hard on my back. I was glad that I couldn't take simple damage from something like that, but it still hurt my head.

I got up and walked out of the small alleyway that I was in to find myself facing another prized building on this floor—the Move Tutor. It seemed weird to include so many enhancing features on one floor, but I reminded myself of the importance of floor twenty-five. I walked into the Move Tutor's hut, which was just a small little building that was even more primitive than the reminder's, and went to see what few moves were available inside.

Usually, Move Tutors popped up in convenient locations; one of the last tutors was on a dock near the water and could teach Water-type moves. Likewise, this tutor taught both Ice Punch and Icy Wind for only a couple thousand Poké. I was second in line, though, as the person in front of me was none other than Bastiodon, my old friend and former party member. When he turned around and saw me we both could almost feel the awkwardness permeating the air. It filled my throat and wrestled my lungs.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey."

"So…how's everyone doing?"

Bastiodon moved his giant shield-head and blinked. "Talonflame still hates you," he said.

Talonflame…I only saw him in boss battles, but "saw" is pushing it. We tried not to look at each other. Ever since he broke the friendship I had with Buizel, I was willing to break his neck. That bird caused more trouble than he was worth. What Skarmory and the Flying Fighters saw in him was completely oblivious to me. The two of us fought constantly on the beta testing topic until one of the other testers admitted to recognizing his complaining voice to his feathery character. Talonflame and I were polar opposites. He was a coward, I was a fighter. He was a liar, I fight for the truth.

"What else is new?" I chuckled.

Bastiodon laughed along. "Infernape's guild is getting as strong as we are," he continued.

Infernape…I had introduced him to fighting when he was still a level one Chimchar. To think that he raised his own army up to fight in the boss raids—and his parties were actually more successful than Scyther's overall—was nostalgic. The fighter had proved to be a formidable opponent against Scyther and Skarmory, the first two guild leaders in the game. I was happy to see him succeed in the most challenging reality.

When Bastiodon mentioned his own guild, it reminded me of Lopunny again. Lopunny had worked so hard for her second-in-command position. I just hoped she managed to get that time off. The Golden Warriors were everywhere; while Infernape was catching up in overall power, G.W. was easily the most populated guild.

We kept talking until Bastiodon suddenly had a Private Message icon pop up in his menu. He opened it and immediately changed expressions. I tried to creep over and take a peek, but I couldn't just look at his screen like that.

"What does it say?" I asked nosily.

Bastiodon kept the message open and began reading it out to me. "'You're at the top of the list,'" he read. "It's from Combusken. She said someone anonymously sent this message to her to send to me. She's asking if she wants me to pay to see who it is."

"Do it," I said solemnly.

Bastiodon replied with a confirmation, but Combusken said she just got a message saying the Pokémon was willing to pay to keep his identity secret.

"Should I keep going?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. It's probably just a prank," I suggested, which brightened his face.

"Yeah, you're right," he said. "I've gotta get back to the leader for the boss raid. She doesn't want anyone late for a private debriefing."

I froze. "She?"

"Huh? Oh, Lopunny. She's now first-in-command along with Lord Scyther. I guess she's Lady Lopunny? I don't know."

I felt a chill travel up my spine. Lopunny wasn't supposed to get promoted, she was supposed to get some time off. She promised me.

"Be careful," I said with assurance as he walked out.

I went on to learn the new move for Ice Punch and gave up Rock Tomb to create an all-new move set. The Abomasnow NPC that taught me the move wouldn't stop talking, but I knew that I'd make it to the boss raid on time with my Extremespeed.

. . .

I was in the back of the crowd as usual. I hung back with Floatzel, Marowak, and Samurott. We were the solo players that didn't confine ourselves to guild rules or guild parties or anything of the manner. There were a few other solo players, too, but they never did much. Other than us, it was mainly the guilds. As such, Lopunny, Infernape, and Skarmory took the stage. I did my best to make eye contact with the new Golden Warriors leader, but she wouldn't look at me. Behind the leaders, who were facing us, were those ominous double doors that signaled the boss room.

"Intelligence claims the beast is a transition in difficulty. This shouldn't come as a surprise since we're on the twenty-fifth floor, another increment of strength, and we're at the halfway point of this game. As such, be prepared to face indescribable strength."

Infernape nodded at her mini-speech and felt it was his turn to say something. "I-" he began, but he quickly stopped talking to open a Private Message icon that opened up. He read the message and made a confused face. He closed his inbox and gestured for Skarmory to go ahead and speak instead.

"We've been ready for this," Skarmory said nervously. "Good luck to everyone."

Was the message Infernape had the same as Bastiodon's? If it was, something's up. Why would someone bother with those two? And Skarmory was acting weird—maybe he had gotten one, too. Either way, I was concerned. This boss wasn't going to be terribly hard, but what about the Black Ice? What about this jokester? It's like we were turning on each other.

I felt someone watching me and saw Talonflame glaring. I glared back harder and he eventually looked away. He was out for blood today. Afterwards, we grouped up and prepared for our next battle with the Mystery Dungeon.

It's kind of funny when I thought about it; we were transformed into Pokémon and won't stop until we get turned back. It was just like the main series Mystery Dungeon games. We were fighting the evil so we could find some sort of cure. In a way, the game was created into its own reality; it was like being the main character of a movie you were hyped for. As I stepped into the doors, I reminded myself one thing: in those games, the main character Pokémon never got changed back.

. . .

"Hey," I said intimately.

Lopunny smiled and snuck a peek at me from behind her leadership face. "Hey."

"How did the talk with Scyther go?"

She tensed up and tried to dodge the question. "Oh, you know Scyther," she chuckled.

I felt skeptical. "You _did_ ask him for the fourteenth off, right?"

Lopunny looked off somewhere far away. "I wonder what the boss is going to be?" she asked aloud.

"Lopunny, if you didn't ask, just tell me and I'll—"

"Team A, you take the left flank. Team B, you take the right. Team C, come with me!" Lopunny shouted to the organizing battlers. Groups of Pokémon started running in different ways, which caused me to feel somewhat confused and slightly betrayed. Nevertheless, we solo players merely prepared to clear out the spawned monsters that came along with the boss.

I noticed a new Pokémon in Infernape's collective group. He didn't let many Pokémon join; only the best of the best were offered a position. I've gotten invited to join the guild before, but I preferred not affiliating myself anymore. There were only about ten or twelve members in Infernape's guild, yet Scyther had three times that at least.

This new Pokémon was pink and girly, yet it almost had the appearance of a bird mask—one of those that doctors wore during the plague. I felt sort of awkward for noticing a contrast between her seemingly-dark face and pinky, bubbly exterior. Her name was Spritzee; I remembered playing through Pokémon Y with one a few years ago.

"Good luck," I whispered nicely to the new Pokémon, who was less than a foot tall. She smiled back and wished the same. She didn't seem strong at all, so what made her so wanted by Infernape? I couldn't dare ask, but there had to be something.

Once the last player scrambled in, the doors closed. As usual, torches on each side of the cave began to light up. In the center, two ice pillars were lit up with blue electricity. The back-center of the room was exposed once the electric rings of light made their way up to the top of the ice. I felt this heavy aura radiating all around me. It was negative. Inside this room was the scariest monster yet.

The giant creature was half icy blue and half pure black. Its yellow eyes pierced through the darkness of its face and its wings shot up in intimidation. Its thick-black tail zapped with electricity. It let out a rumbling screech, making my ears rattle in pain.

The boss for this dungeon was known as Black Kyurem—a mix between the original Kyurem, leader of its generation trio, and Zekrom, the Pokémon White mascot. Known for its powerful Ice- and Electric-type moves, Flying types in general were in trouble—specifically Skarmory's guild.

Kyurem quickly began to charge a move. I wasn't sure what it was planning, but I heard Skarmory directing his Flying-types through the air anyway. Infernape began spouting out orders and I quickly saw the complete scene around me. There was snow and ice on the ground, but something weird was in increments in the walls—it looked like indentations, and they were big enough for some Pokémon to come out.

"Get ready," I whispered.

Soon enough, a hoard of Beartic began running out of the holes in the wall. Floatzel and I began taking on the half of the Beartic that were on our side of the cave while the other solo players controlled the other half. The guilds continued their battle plans.

Floatzel jumped up and smacked his tail through the air, which caused water vapor to cluster and disperse in a swipe-like motion. Several Beartic were knocked back and took a decent amount of damage. I closed my eyes and held a hand out to summon a blue ball of energy. I fired the Aura Sphere and killed a Beartic in one hit. I smiled from the kill and zoomed up to destroy another. I glanced at Kyurem and saw its charging was complete.

"Lopunny, watch out!" I called out, though my distraction caused a Beartic to see an opening and used Icicle Crash. I was knocked back by the attack, which made giant icicles fall on top of me. For some reason, I actually flinched. It was the only time I'd flinched in the game. After that, though, I killed the Pokémon with an Extremespeed and managed to dodge another's Icicle Crash at the last second. The move just barely missed hitting my ears. I swerved back around and kicked the Beartic back, dodged a Slash attack, and effortlessly used Aura Sphere to kill it.

While Lopunny and her guild were using super effective Fighting-type attacks, Infernape's group was also using a similar strategy. Infernape himself was using his STABs to do as much as possible while Spritzee used Draining Kiss.

I looked into the sky to notice a birdlike shape racing toward the boss. I squinted to see the red-bodied Talonflame braving up a strike from behind. It quickly turned into a blue shade as the force of its Brave Bird attack collided into the strong defenses of the 25th floor's boss. Kyurem's yellow eyes open up to expose its readiness—it's about to attack. Skarmory, sensing the same idea, rushed in to help Talonflame get out of close range. I looked to see if anyone on the ground was in close range, but it was just Talonflame. I kicked off the dirt in an Extremespeed and prepared to kick Talonflame out of the way.

Kyurem's pupils move toward the now-finished Talonflame. The bird squawks upon being noticed and was relieved to see Skarmory using Steel Wing lower to the ground as a sort of distraction. Kyurem-B focused its attack on Skarmory and used Freeze Shock, paralyzing the Steel-type bird and rendering him useless in battle. His HP bar slid into the yellow, almost the red, and he fell to the ground from the attack.

The ball of bluish energy, which was covered in an electric outer shell, did not stop there. It rocketed toward Talonflame and eventually myself. The bird barely managed to scrape by while I used Extremespeed to easily maneuver myself out of the way. I saw Lopunny look concerned as I paced across the stone floor and proceeded to make my way toward the limp Skarmory.

Though my speed in one-on-one battle was unmatchable, I had my limits when it came to running. Extremespeed did not necessarily make me the Flash; I could only go a decent bit faster. With that said, Talonflame had much faster natural speed and had the easiest opportunity to save his commander.

But he didn't.

Kyurem launched an electric-yellow Fusion Bolt attack toward Skarmory. I kept sprinting toward it and Talonflame flew out of the way. I cursed under my breath and focused my arms in front of me while running. Before eventually tripping on my own feet, I managed to send an Aura Sphere into the heart of the Fusion Bolt. The orb of energy broke apart, though it was not enough to stop the attacking from singing the last of Skarmory's HP away. An electric shock went through his body as I finally made it to the player's dying moment. I saw the relieved look in his eyes and remembered the terror that they displayed earlier. I looked at the Pokémon before he exploded and had to ask: "You got a message, too, didn't you?"

Skarmory nodded before turning into a million shards of nothingness. His body exploded like a balloon filled with too much air, too much dread. I was seeing the relief shower myself from the poor bird's depression. Lopunny ran up to me after seeing a player death and was relieved to see me alive. My hands started shaking and my voice stuttered when I spoke.

"I d-didn't make in t-time," I said coldly.

"You did your very best," Lopunny insisted.

"And it wasn't enough," I snapped.

Meanwhile, in the fight, Kyurem was launching attacks at the other players. Infernape dodged a Steel Wing of Kyurem's own and threw a Mach Punch into the Pokémon's chest. Swellow used Brave Bird and brought the other possible Flying-types to do the same. Floatzel was killing some of the other Beartic that still roamed around and attacked, but I killed most of them on our side. I watched as Samurott and Marowak still struggled.

"I hate this," I said.

"We all do," Lopunny said before putting an arm on my shoulder. She crouched down and looked at the empty spot that I couldn't help but focus on.

I looked at her. "Have you gotten any messages lately?"

She shook her head. "No, why?"

"Nothing," I said. "I was just making sure."

While we were talking, a Beartic suddenly came up behind me. I only noticed his shadow as he was about to use Superpower. Lopunny saw him, though, and told me to wait just a second. I looked behind me as she used Jump Kick and knocked the Beartic's HP bar down to zero. That move wasn't even STAB and she was able to one-hit KO?

"We better get back to the fighting," she told me.

I nodded. "I know. I just wish I could have done more."

"He would want you to keep fighting. We'll worry about the Flyers later. Let's just beat this boss, 'kay?" she smiled and put her warm face against my ear. "And we'll talk about Saturday right after," she whispered.

I couldn't help but grin. "Right."

Talonflame and Swellow began fighting for responsibility of the guild. Swellow was second-in-command and had already started guiding the attacks, but Talonflame insisted Skarmory's last words were for him to lead. As they fought, the solo players finished up the Beartic spawns and were ready to join the boss fight at hand. I launched an Aura Sphere at the very last Beartic that Marowak missed and managed to kill it. I saw a frozen Floatzel in the background near the Beartic and asked Lopunny to send Houndoom out to thaw him from the icy prison.

The Black Kyurem created a metallic case for its wing and moved along the playfield in anger. Bastiodon took the Steel Wing attack, but it knocked him back and caused his shield to vibrate with intensity. Aggron took another attack and I started running up Aggron's back in Extremespeed and landed on top of Kyurem-B's neck. As it attempted to sling me off, I focused and used Aura Sphere right in a weak spot. It shrieked and I jumped off in time to avoid a vigorous shaking. Lopunny led her Fighting-type posse by using Jump Kick on Kyurem's chest, knocking it back a few centimeters. The other Pokémon continued the motion.

The boss used Freeze Shock again right as I landed on the ground. I was hit hard by the Ice-type attack despite the type advantage I had and unfortunately found myself paralyzed. Similarly, Talonflame managed to get in the way of the attack and found a fate quite the same. We were limp on the ground, but I had at least managed to fire an Aura Sphere the second my foot tapped the stone floor. Both Kyurem's and my own HP bars fall into the yellow, though his was from dozens of attacks and mine only one. I barely managed to grab a Cheri Berry from my bag, but I ate it and quickly lost my paralysis. Even so, I had to suffer the item cool-down clause and was forced to sit there for a minute.

I watched as Lopunny charged up again and was knocked against the wall by a quick swipe of the arm. I focused my arms together and used Aura Sphere the second my cool-down was over. The blue ball of energy rocketed into Kyurem's eyes and blurred his vision just long enough for me to get out of the way…but I knew I couldn't leave Talonflame in the range of fire.

I saw Lopunny was only slightly damaged and so I quickly got up and dragged the almost-dead Talonflame by his wings. I slung the backstabber against the wall and shoved an Oran Berry down his throat. He choked for a second before swallowing and regaining health. When looking at his hero, he made no sound. I threw another Cheri Berry into his beak and went back to the battle. I didn't have time for scum like him.

I ran back to help Lopunny up, but she managed to bring herself to her feet via the wall's support. The two of us join fists into a double Ice Punch and hit the creature for neutral damage. Our icy fists banged against its skin and nearly bounced off. It was at this time that Kyurem used another Freeze Shock. We were knocked back several yards out of the way and were forced to let Infernape and Swellow call the shots for a few seconds. I didn't get paralyzed by this attack, but it hurt my HP. The now-familiar Ice-type attack knocked me back. Lopunny was shocked to find herself paralyzed for the first time. She could barely move.

"What's going on?" she asked.

Something clicked in my mind. My Inner Focus ability hadn't kicked in earlier, and now she was paralyzed despite having Limber? The only answer was too simple for me to so carelessly pass up: Black Kyurem's ability cancelled out other abilities. If that was to turn out true, then this boss was a lot more dangerous than I anticipated.

"You don't honestly think that?" she asked.

"It's the only answer."

We watched as Kyurem's HP bar just barely went into the red zone. I felt something change in the atmosphere in the room and jumped to my feet. Lopunny ate a Cheri Berry and shouted for me to come back, but I couldn't help running off. I kept running until my senses felt normal. I found myself by Houndoom, who had just freed Floatzel from being frozen.

Kyurem-B went in and turned red in frustration. We watched as he approached and I found myself numb—I didn't want to move from this spot. I wanted to see what he was going to do. The boss Pokémon's eyes turned bright red as well and it charged for us. I recognized the attack after facing a Gabite in one of the past duel competitions: Outrage.

Though Houndoom was by my side, Floatzel was almost out of range for the attack. I had no choice but to launch an Aura Sphere and knock him back out of the way. I held my hands side-by-side and delivered a weak attack that would only do minimal damage to him. He flew back, complaining, and found himself almost behind Kyurem.

That was the easy part. Houndoom and I now began running in opposite directions of the attack, but Kyurem's outrage made both arms sling forward and knock both of us against the wall we were closest to. Houndoom's HP was barely above zero and mine was begging to turn red. Both of us were winded from the attack and struggled to get up. We only had a short amount of time to escape another blow from the creature, so I was relieved to see Lopunny running to come save me.

. . .

Lopunny saw the attack and quickly started running toward them. Lucario was in deep trouble after taking an Outrage attack like that. She kept her breathing steady but suddenly had a thought pop up in her mind:

" _Don't let me down."_

Scyther was counting on her and she had _just_ gotten the promotion she needed. She couldn't save them both; she didn't have the time. Should she save Lucario, a boy she's starting to have feelings for, or Houndoom, one of the many responsibility-bounded souls she had to keep alive? Leadership was so important to her life goals and this was such a great practice for real life. Could she give that up? Could she give up the boy, though? Lopunny gritted her teeth as she knew who she had to get out of range of fire. She just hoped she made the right choice.

Lopunny scooped up Houndoom's body off the ground and ran it out of the range of fire. While the other Pokémon on the other side of Kyurem couldn't see what was happening, and Floatzel was attempting to scream over their attacking, it was all on her to save them both. She couldn't. But she couldn't let Houndoom die and have everyone blame her. She moved Houndoom over and gave him a berry, but she quickly got back up from her crouching and went back to see if she had time to save Lucario—but she didn't.

. . .

I couldn't help but gasp when I realized I couldn't get up. I wasn't paralyzed, but I still couldn't move. I was too exhausted from the blow of Outrage. Kyurem raised another arm up to swipe the rest of my HP bar away and, since Lopunny chose to save Houndoom instead of me, I was willing to let it happen. I was just betrayed, again, and felt more vulnerable than ever. I closed my eyes and braced for the attack when Kyurem's arm reared back to knock me out.

The arm came swinging toward my body. I moved an arm, a leg, and began crawling out of the way of the attack's range. It was useless. When I realized his arm was almost at me, I turned around to face my attacker. I knew my limits. I wanted to die while the boss watched. I wanted my death to seem somewhat dignified. If I was going to die, so be it.

I only shielded my face when something blocked my view from the red radiating off the Kyurem's arm. I looked to see Spritzee floating in front of me. I screamed for her to stop, that she'd die, but she wouldn't listen. The black arm came at her with a powerful Dragon-type STAB move and she just took it. The arm went through her body and she lost no HP. I gasped again.

In my defense, Fairy-types weren't that common in the game. Those that were Fairy-types often suffered from low base stat totals from the get-go and the others had poor learn sets early on as well. That resulted in many of them living in the lower-floored cities like Fountainhead. Seeing Spritzee flaunt her typing's immunities was surely impressive in its own right.

She turned around to me after the attack and gave me an Oran Berry. She asked if I had any status conditions and explained Aromatherapy. I shook my head and thanked her. She closed her eyes and summoned a moon-like object that glowed pink. She thrusted the attack and Kyurem-B and helped me to my feet.

We went back into battle and I ignored Lopunny as much as I could. I instead focused on Infernape, who was using Close Combat to chip away at the rest of Kyurem-B's health. The last few HP felt like they were so much harder to deplete than the beginning. Infernape was answered with an Outrage attack that knocked him way back. Blastoise took part of the hit and offered an Ice Beam, but he had to stop and heal as Infernape's other guild members, such as Jolteon, took the stage. Their attacks were doing almost nothing.

Nevertheless, Kyurem was just about to dematerialize. Lopunny and I both saw this and went in for the Last Attack bonus. She jumped forward in a Jump Kick attack and I started running as fast as I could. Extremespeed wouldn't do enough damage, but I had a priority move that would. My fist quickly turned metallic and I jumped off the ground after running and hurtling around obstacles. I slammed my fist hard in between Kyurem's eyes before Lopunny could hit it and the Pokémon exploded into millions of glass shards. I fell to the ground unscathed and she took minimal damage from the Jump Kick recoil.

While the others celebrated a victory, Lopunny and I fought. The two of us walked over to each other and she was the first to explode like Kyurem, but this time in complaints.

"What the heck? Real mature, Rio. If you wanted the LA, just ask," she spat.

I made a disgusted noise. "Just ask? Do I need to 'ask' to be saved, too?"

Lopunny's eyes grow timid. "I had to save a guild member. You, of all people, should understand that."

I took the reference to my first-floor party and felt terribly insulted. "What are you trying to say? I know I've saved your ass on _multiple_ occasions."

The two of us, probably close to tears (or at least the feeling), glared at each other like I had been with Talonflame.

Infernape sensed the tension and stepped in between us. "Let's all calm down; we just defeated the twenty-fifth boss! Let's party!"

"Shut up!" we both yelled.

Floatzel comes behind me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Bro, just let it go. She had to make a tough call."

"You know I have to take care of my guild," she told me in a sob.

"Don't you take Scyther's side!" I said angrily.

"'Side?' What do you mean by side? Are you asking for me to pick a 'side,' Lucario? Is that what you're saying?"

I rolled my eyes. "I think you already have."

She pushed my shoulder and clenched her fists at her sides. "You're a jerk if you're trying to force me into that situation. I don't know even know what to say to you right now."

I looked in her eyes. "I do: did you ask Scyther to take Valentine's Day off?"

Lopunny's eyes moved toward the ground. "No."

My voice was on the verge of trembling. "If you can't choose me over your guild, if not even for a day, then what's the point? Why bother?"

She wiped a tear from her eye and nodded. "You're right. Golden Warriors, back to base camp. We have some _planning_ to do."

As she stormed off with her guild awkwardly following behind her, I decided to run up the stairs. I heard Lopunny crying as she left the boss room and I felt a tear escape its duct halfway up the steps. I looked back to find an empty boss room. I sighed and pulled my gaze forward. Floatzel was a few steps ahead of me and had a small smile on his face.

"Rio, look at it this way—you're a free man! Now we can go on blind dates and not be third wheels and enjoy stuff," he beamed.

I chuckled. "Alright, but you're buying me dinner."

Floatzel jumped back. "What? I'm broke—give me a break! You're the one that won't spend your money."

I rolled my eyes. "You're the one that _gambles_ it all away."

As we climbed up the stairs and tried to get over the fight, Floatzel kept cheering me up. "Hey, remember when I won that one game? Do you remember?"

I smirked reminiscently. "You won a hundred Poké and then blew it on a hotdog."

"It was a good hotdog!"

I shook my head. "That was one sketchy hotdog man."

As we went up the last few stairs, I failed to notice a glimmer down on the ground floor of the boss room. A crescent-shaped shadow gleamed in the light and disappeared into the darkness. I only realized a floor later that he was watching me the whole time.

We went up the steps and teleported to the twenty-sixth floor. Without even bothering to look around and appreciate the flower gardens in the darkness, I went on into a rentable apartment room with Floatzel. He unpacked and settled in when I noticed a message in my inbox. I gulped and clicked the notification button. The message was from Combusken. I fearfully read the message and realized it was something rather peculiar.

"Sorry to bother you this late, but we need to talk sometime this week. I have some possible information for you—and a message. Don't get killed –Combusken."

I smiled at her jesting toward the end, but as I watched Floatzel crawl into his bed and doze off in a matter of twelve seconds, I pondered whether a life that lacked love, happiness, and wholeness was even worth living. Without wanting to sound all emotional, I shrugged the feeling off and turned out my light. I slipped under the brown covers of my regular bed and quickly fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12 - Braixen, Part One

Floor 26

February 14th, 2016

"Watch your step, guys, this dungeon is crawling with Grass-types," Sceptile told the rest of his team walking behind him. "Isn't that right, boss?"

The red-bodied insect nodded. "We have an overall advantage on Grass-types, but we've only fought lower-leveled ones so far. This seems serious…especially after just advancing from a safe zone. Keep close and watch out for traps."

A nervous, foxlike humanoid Pokémon walked behind the two frontline battlers. She was a new recruit to the Golden Warriors guild, and was therefore forced, along with a few other newbies, to be in the same group as one of the commanders. Her friends were in Lopunny's group, but she just so happened to get stuck with Scizor.

She grabbed a stick from the hair of her tail and pulled it out, causing friction to ignite it instantly. The ill-lit dungeon was unfortunately very, very grassy; it started out as a pretty flower garden and got progressively taller—and darker—as they went on. With such high grass, her vision plummeted into a small circle of light around her. At least her torch would do a little bit better.

Braixen whimpered at the noises coming from all sides of the tall grass. Wild Pokémon spawn were everywhere. Luckily, the conditions of the dungeon were also set for the spawners. It was very much a random encounter.

In front of her, an older, cocky Cacnea wobbled around near Scizor. He began chatting casually and Braixen quickly realized she was bringing up the rear of her six-member party. She could easily be swept away and never seen from again. Quickly regretting her decision, she knew she needed to stay with the group. She tried to catch up to the Cacnea and could only hear a part of what he was saying when they made it to an open room.

"Look at all the items!" Cacnea squealed, his prickles vibrating in excitement.

"Slow down there, cactus boy," Scizor muttered. "Something's not right."

Braixen had to agree. The atmosphere had changed—there was a suspension in the air. It was like the game wanted to see something happen. There were probably twelve different items in this huge room. Walking into an enclosed room that lacked tall grass was a first for this dungeon, so they were all excited. A few other newbies were jumping around, too. The excitement, however, made the room unnerving.

"I'm going to get that Big Apple over there!" Cacnea cheered ignorantly as he walked away from the party.

"Be careful," Sceptile called. "The stairs are in the back corner, so we just have to walk over there. Pick stuff up as you go."

Cacnea nodded without listening and went to go pick up his apple. When he was only a step away from the item, he put his foot down and uncovered a trap—a metal button with a question mark on top. With the button, which was slightly protruding from the ground, already clicked in, Cacnea gulped as he let go. Everyone watched in shock as the _click!_ sound caused all of the items to explode into a pink powder and spawn into the Pokémon of the dungeon.

"That was a Pokémon Trap!" Scizor yelled. He knew he'd made a mistake in not bringing Lopunny, one of the rare guild-members with the "Trap Busting" skill.

Braixen watched in fear as a large Tropius flew toward her and blew out her torch. She ran back against one of the grassy hedge walls and cowered in the corner. Cacnea quickly ran over to her. The other newbies went back toward Scizor, who was on the opposite side of the room. Cacnea and Braixen, mere beginners to battling, were alone.

"Cac, watch out!" she squealed, shielding her eyes.

Cacnea ignored her and kept running to save her. They were so close; she was like a sister to him. They were close to reconciling until Cacnea was knocked back by another cactus Pokémon—Maractus. Soon enough, the two new recruits were cornered by the spawned Pokémon.

Scizor, Sceptile, and the two other recruits watched in the corner. All of the spawned monsters were on the other end of the room. _They_ were near the stairs. As soon as Cacnea was easily controlled, a few of the Pokémon had started their way.

"What are we going to do?" Sceptile asked his leader.

Scizor kept quiet for a moment. He opened his mouth, but then closed it again. With little emotion, he made his decision. "Keep going. I'm sure they'll be fine. I'm not risking my hide for a couple of noobs that'll just die in the boss room."

Sceptile nodded after a second of contemplation. In the high-ranking member's eyes, a visible reluctance could be seen. He, his commander, and the rest of the party turned away from Braixen and Cacnea and silently went up the stairs. The scared Braixen saw the spectacle and began screaming in fear.

"Please, Scizor! Lord Scizor! Have mercy!"

Sceptile and one of the recruits went up the stairs first. Another began to follow. Scizor waited a second to view the results of Cacnea's fatal mistake. He stayed along the steps of the stairs and watched the two struggle.

Braixen squealed again when a Breloom swung a fist at her. It hit the hair tuft coming out of her left ear and caused her minimal damage. Cacnea swung back with a Needle Arm that did negligible damage as well. Tropius slung an Air Slash attack and knocked Cacnea into the red. He watched her with longing eyes as she began to scream out for her companion, her protector, her "brother." He was being beaten to death.

"Cacnea…!"

Cacnea exploded into a million shards of glass. Meanwhile, Braixen, still terrified by the murder, watched Scizor trudge up the last stair to the next floor. Braixen dodged an attack and did her best to get to the marble stairs on the other side of the room. Whether or not she could make it, though, would be left up to fate.

. . .

"Scizor sent me an instant message telling you that your invitation to the Golden Warriors alliance has been officially _revoked_ ," Combusken said with a smirk. On the last word, she put an official tone, somewhat comparable to a British one, in her voice to mock the seriousness Scizor displayed.

"Oh, no! I was definitely going to join a guild that I've known about but haven't joined for months for a reason!" I laughed back. "Seriously, did he honestly think I'd care enough to be his 'underling' or whatever? We both know that's beneath me."

Combusken shrugged. "Beats me, but we have more important things to talk about. I noticed that Floor 38 is almost 75% of the way to fiftieth floor. Perhaps there is some sort of transition of difficulty or even an upgrade of sorts?"

I thought about it for a second and nodded. "It could also be a trap, though. Black Ice could just be trying to scare their targets into submission and go in for the kill then? Whoever sent the messages, that is," I said with a side-glance to the quiet information rat.

"I can't disclose that unless you're willing to pay big," she said dryly.

"I know, but we both know I know who sent those messages."

She remained quiet. I decided to change the topic. "Do you know if there's any sort of unlockable bonus in the game? Maybe something to help with the upper bosses or even against ourselves?"

"I'll check," Combusken agreed. "I better go do some more research." She walked away from me for a second, but turned back soon after. "I'm sorry about Lopunny."

My face reddened. I shrugged and looked down at her feet. She took the hint and backed off. Combusken gave me a final farewell and kicked her Speed Boost ability into full gear. I walked out of the shadows of an alleyway and into the main part of town, which is an agricultural village named "Sprouton."

The town was less active than usual; while the topmost floor available was usually the heaviest in population, it was because of battlers moving closer to beat the bosses. Most of the nonviolent people actually moved back down to Floor One—Fountainhead City. I closed my eyes and thought about my very beginning in the game, my naïve idea that a perfect party with six perfect members could actually happen. Now most of the gamers were hiding in the first floor while others risked their lives every day. Even worse, the people of Fountainhead City complained about our progress through the game. Guilds are getting fewer recruits than the past few weeks. Morale was dying.

I saw Floatzel talking with some familiar parties and guilds, but I figured I'd let him have his time. As I went back toward the rented apartment, I saw a small red bleep pop up on my screen: a distress signal. I went toward the 26th dungeon and made it my mission to save whoever needed help. At this point, I had nothing to lose. No one to lose.

. . .

I dodged a Vine Whip and quickly used an icy fist to destroy the spawned Carnivine. The green Pokémon burst into nothingness, however I couldn't admire the resultant intricacies of the death animation for long since a Sunflora came into my view. I hadn't gotten to solo fight much recently, so the experience brought my adrenaline rushing.

Sunflora opened the mouth on its yellow flower and shot out a stream of brown seeds. I dodged the forceful attack and used a Bullet Punch to knock it back. My iron fist slammed hard into the flower's face. Sunflora quickly began storing energy as I side-swiped another Carnivine and kicked a Nuzleaf out of the way.

Sunflora unleashed a powerful Solar Beam directly at me, however I quickly used Aura Sphere to create a light blue ball that dispersed the attack and slammed into Sunflora, bringing it to dissipation.

After the mass attack, I ran up the marble-based stairs and made it to the second floor. Like the last floor of this dungeon, a flower garden was the main landscape. The sunlight shined bright on these petals, offering a vivid, healthy environment. Interestingly, I noticed that the flowers were slightly taller this time. I eventually disregarded the detail and environment to focus on what was important: I had to keep destroying these Grass-types and find that red blip. Every few floors I went up, I had noticed its strength increase. I used Extremespeed on a Tropius and ran up the stairs to the twentieth floor.

The flower garden was now like a field of tall grass. My visibility level was slowly declining, meaning it would be like a corn maze toward the end of the dungeon. Anything could happen: dead ends, Monster Houses—and if I can't pick those up with my negated vision, this dungeon would be very, very dangerous in the near future.

As I kept walking through the maze, with this particular floor being unusually quiet, I saw the red signal growing stronger on my menu. Could this be another trap like before? I had sacrificed my day to jump on this saving spree, and after half a year of fighting in this game…had I not changed? If not, was what I was doing—risking my life—at this moment a wise decision at all? I looked down at my fist and a metallic film covered the skin. Bullet Punch was my sign of knowledge, an extra expertise, but was it fair to use this exclusive egg move through the game? I had put it away for so long that using it seemed weird. Perhaps, though, I had this particular egg move for a reason.

I kept walking through the dungeon and found the set of stairs without a single encounter. My health bar was now back to full after a while of traveling, and I also had time to eat one of the many apples I had picked to boost my hunger level back up. I went up the stairs once I finished and found myself face-to-face with three different Grass-type spawners waiting for me. I smiled at the challenge and readied my fists, one with the same metallic luster and another with icicles protruding in every direction. I lunged to attack one after the other.

. . .

Floor twenty-eight was where the victim was located. Once I had made it up the stairs, a small notification box appeared over top of my menu:

"You have arrived to a destination floor!"

My heart began to thump. I sprinted from the stairs and went in every room possible. The target was moving. I found a Radar Orb in the corner of a dead-end room and uncovered six red dots, which symbolized enemies, surrounding a yellow one—a user. The room was just half a minute away from my location. I watched the orb disintegrate and kept moving through the tall grass, bumping into the occasional spawn, until I made it to the room of interest.

I ran in with Extremespeed, causing the very tall grass to lean forward from my wind. I quickly found one of the monsters, a Tropius, and used Ice Punch to destroy the creature in a single hit. I turned around and kicked a Breloom back. I dodged a Mach Punch and delivered a Bullet Punch myself. The Breloom was knocked back and imploded once an Aura Sphere contacts its chest.

I went into a deeper section of the grass and quickly found an empty patch; it was the first sign of the brown dirt I had seen since the beginning of the dungeon. In the patch were five Pokémon: four Grass-type spawners and a fox Pokémon in the middle. The fire from her wand stick must have destroyed the grass.

"Get back!" the girl screamed as she waved her stick.

I watched as she used Fire Spin and caught a Trevenant into the fiery vortex. Its HP bar did not fall enough to fit my expectations, so I used Ice Punch and quickly killed the high-leveled attacker before it could do any other damage. The fox Pokémon saw me and quickly backed away.

"Hey, did you send out that distress signal?" I asked as I Bullet Punched a Roselia.

"Yes!" she whimpered. "Thank you for coming, but please help! My HP is really low."

Another Trevenant used Shadow Ball on the middle-evolution Fire-type. The orb of ghostly purple energy shot from the tree's hands. I jumped in front of the fox and took the blunt of the hit, but the impact knocked her down and caused my stance to change.

The Fire-type used her wand and created another funnel of flames, which finally killed a Sunflora after several attempts. I took out the Trevenant and silenced the last spawn with Ice Punches. The two of us, exhausted, sat on the ground together as grass began to sprout from the naked dirt. We were panting heavily and she stuck her stick into her bushy tail.

"I'm Braixen," she said with a smile.

"Lucario," I said. It was weird; we didn't even go by our own names anymore. It was perfectly normal to call ourselves by our Pokémon species, and even though most people already knew every Pokémon, we still felt the need to introduce ourselves. Not only was it easier to remember a Pokémon's name, but it was also less awkward.

"Thank you for saving me," she mustered. She brushed the dirt off of her waist and got some water out of her bag.

I slipped a hand in my bag as well and began fiddling around inside it. "No problem. What were you doing here alone, anyway? You know it's really dangerous this far into the game, right?"

Braixen raised her eyebrows and began feeling of the hair tufts in her ears. "I'm not stupid. I wasn't alone, not at first," she said.

I grabbed two Escape Orbs out of my brown bag and looked straight into her eyes. "What happened?"

Braixen tapped into the air and pulled her menu screen up. She showed me her screen—she was a member of the Golden Warriors. They never explored as solo players; it was too dangerous. They always maintained a party of at least four.

"Where's your group?" I asked suspiciously.

"I'm a new recruit to the Golden Warriors," she told me. She put a hand to her eyes and wiped the tears from her damp fur. "My friend and I were a part of a group and-and, we were ditched."

My skin shivered from the word. "Ditched." Groups don't ditch members, especially not new recruits. How else would they expand? Besides, this game wasn't like other VRMMORPGs; we couldn't get more players. There were not Pokémon with higher stats or better moves that we'd just find. We had to take what we could get and couldn't complain about it.

"Who was in your party, then?" I asked.

"Four new members. My friend Cacnea was one of them. We were with Sceptile and one of the leaders, I think."

My stomach churned. One of the leaders? There were only two leaders, which means one of them completely abandoned guild morals. "Which one?"

"Scizor."

I felt a flush of anger on my face. "Tell me what happened. _Exactly_ what happened."

. . .

Braixen and I walked through the dense dungeon in hopes of finding Scizor and his terrible values. Though I begged her to use an Escape Orb, she kept talking about needing to catch up with her group. She was one of the clingier, yet dedicated, stereotypes within a guild. She reminded me so much of Whismur in this sense, but the pain of even comparing the two had to be subsided.

"Floor 50 is probably the rest area spot," I told her. "The creators like more systematic floor numbers for rests, difficulty levels, etc."

She nodded. "That was their target. Scizor kept yelling at us to walk faster, to attack harder. I'm not even a high level. I was forced to go on this mission and just run away."

"What level are you, if you don't mind my asking?" I said awkwardly.

"Thirty."

Level thirty? I was over twenty levels ahead of her. How could Scizor be so careless as to let a middle-evolution of this level into such a high-ranked dungeon? He should have brought her to one of the mid-teen dungeons. This sort of challenge would be nearly impossible by itself.

"Let's fix that," I suggested.

"Okay," she nodded. "My friend Cacnea wanted us to join this guild to train harder and make it on the frontlines. With the bosses here recently, I've heard that you guys keep losing member after member to the simplest of attacks."

The reminder hurt. Our last boss raid resulted in five deaths, and one of them was a twin brother (Plusle) to the survivor, a Minun. We had gotten careless recently, and obviously that carelessness hadn't left. Scizor was letting people die as bait while he continued up the stairs. Without a word, we kept walking for another several floors.

"Dodge," I told her.

"Huh?"

"Dodge!"

I jumped over-top of Braixen and used Aura Sphere on a Lombre, a Water/Grass type with a lily pad-like head. She ducked down and watched as the Jolly Pokémon spurted a Water Gun—an attack meant for her. I broke the stream with my attack and watched it slam into the weaker Pokémon. It burst into shards and dissipated away.

"There must be a pond nearby," I suggested. "Be careful: water means Water-types."

"Got it," she nodded.

We walked through the tall grass and Braixen eventually slipped down a slope into the pond. She squirmed in the shallow water before getting up and watching her sopping-wet fur dry up in an instant. I waded into the pond until a barrier stopped me.

"Only Water-types can swim in these deeper areas. It's really not fair, but there are orbs we could use. Do you have any orbs?"

Braixen shook her head. "I had to give all of my items to Sceptile. I was just there to level up."

My head pounded as I got angrier after every experience she shared. "Here," I said, handing her an Escape Orb. "Keep that in the hold-item section of your menu in case you need it."

At this point, we were on floor forty. We had fought Pokémon like Venusaur and Torterra by this point, and those Torterra knew Earthquake—a move super effective against both of us. The attack also had the ability to one-shot Braixen with ease. I had to be especially careful around it.

"Let's go," I said after pulling her from the water.

Braixen giggled, much to my surprise. I looked at her with a "what?" expression and she busted out laughing. She nearly fell back in the water because of it.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"I-It's nothing, I'm sorry," she smiled endearingly. "You're just so focused and determined!"

"Pfft," I shook my head. "Don't be annoying."

As we kept walking, I kept killing most of the Pokémon. Braixen had grown a few levels, which was very good for her HP stats, but her attacking was hampered by a terrible move pool. It was either Ember or Fire Spin for a while.

"You don't honestly think I'm annoying, right?" she pestered.

I shrugged. "You remind me of my sister, but not even you could be that annoying."

Braixen stopped walking for a minute and I turned back to look at her. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing, sorry."

She ran to catch up in pace and we went up the stairs to floor forty-one. The grass was much taller than we were now, so visibility was basically meaningless. We could walk right by the stairs and not even know. We could walk by Scizor, too.

"What was she like? Your sister, I mean."

I shrugged again. "Typical sister: annoying, bothersome, but you can't not love her. To be honest, though, I never saw her even out of the game. She probably doesn't even care that I'm gone," I admitted. "She was always in her room doing something."

 _But then again, so was I…_ I reminded myself.

Braixen smiled and shook her head. "She does love you, I know it. She probably visits you in the hospital every day. Sisters just have a hard time explaining how much their siblings mean to them."

I raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you come from experience," I muttered.

Braixen looked away from me and wiped her forehead out of habit. "I had an older brother that used to be really close to me. He was annoying and cocky and always liked to bother me when I just wanted to be left alone, but…he was also my protector."

"What do you mean 'had?' Just as in you're away from him?"

Braixen stopped walking again and squeezed her eyes shut. "No, he passed away."

I immediately tensed up and stopped moving as well. "Oh, I'm so sorry." There were many deaths in the game, so those kind of statements weren't unheard of; in fact, they were becoming the norm.

"No, it's just…two years ago, we were walking in New York and I heard some men in the dark, narrow space between two buildings. They were yelling and talking about murder, but we weren't in full earshot. I wanted to hear what they were saying, but my brother kept saying it wasn't a good idea. I didn't listen and, well, we got caught eavesdropping by one of the biggest gangs in the city. They threatened to kill me and the leader grabbed my arm. I flailed around as he got his gun out, but my brother jumped on top and wrestled me free."

Braixen's eyes seemed to leak emotions all over her face. She expressed anger, remorse, and maybe some regret. "I got up from the ground, heard the _bang!_ of a gunshot, and screamed in horror when he sunk the floor. The police showed up by that point—someone heard the screaming and called—but the gang ran. Even so, the worst part was that I was standing there. Right there. I watched him die, and it was my fault."

She stopped for a moment and looked into my blank face. She knew I felt ashamed for mentioning a sensitive topic, especially one that happened outside the game, but she seemed to smile slightly to confirm herself. "I can imagine what your sister is going through, Lucario, and she definitely isn't ignoring you. She probably misses the talking, fighting, bothering…even the worst parts of your relationship." Braixen wiped her face once more. "I know I do," she added after a pause.

I put a hand on her shoulder and smiled optimistically. "You have to be here for a reason. You've survived so much, Braixen. I think you'll make it out of here, and when you do, you can meet my sister. She knows how you feel, too, then."

Braixen nodded. The offer probably wasn't genuine, but she felt comforted enough. " _If_ we make it out alive."

"Hey," I began. "Don't talk like that. You're stronger than you think you are."

"This is going to sound dumb," Braixen said quietly as we kept walking, "but I lived completely in VRMMOs because of him. When I lost him, I lost the biggest influence on me. My parents told me it would get better, but I never got over it. Playing in these fake realities, where I didn't have to be reminded that I killed my brother, sort of blocked the emotions sometimes."

"That's not dumb," I said.

We kept moving and I silenced an incoming Tropius spawn with a mere Ice Punch. She talked about her experiences in the games, the illusions she placed herself under. This girl was in serious pain and now she's faced to die herself. I'm personally surprised she hasn't let herself die anyway.

"What keeps you moving?" I asked.

Braixen slowed her pace. "Cacnea did. He was my brother here."

"I…don't follow."

She grabbed the stick in her fur and awkwardly messed around with it. "You know those role-playing 'house' type things where you pretend to be in a family with other characters—you know, like being a 'mother' to a person your age?"

I nodded. Those games always creeped me out, but it was probably because I would rather spend my time battling other people online. "I've heard of them."

"I played those types of games. Every time, I asked for a brother. None of them have been the same—some were cowards, others rude, and the rest were just boring—but I at least had this void filled, you know? Cacnea volunteered to be my older brother, and he kept me through this game the best he could. When Scizor…"

I understood what she was going through and nodded. "He needs to pay for letting Cacnea die like that. He's the leader, after all."

We stopped talking as I sensed a Monster House nearby. I moved Braixen over in the bushes and told her to stay put. Because she was in my party, she'd gain a heap of experience from my battling. I could take on all of these Grass-types without breaking a sweat.

The feverish music began playing instead of the hint of a tranquil breeze. I readied myself as eight different Grass-types spawned in front of me. I glanced back toward the hidden Braixen and began busting Ice Punches and Aura Spheres out in instant repetition. A Ferrothorn shattered into glass and two Leafeon were quickly destroyed. A Breloom used Mach Punch and put a dent into my Hit Points, but it jumped out view before I could retaliate. I instead used Bullet Punch and busted a Whimsicott into bits of data. I defeated the other seen spawned Pokémon with my HP around the halfway mark.

Braixen looked from the tall grass and saw me getting an Oran Berry out of my bag. She noticed, behind me, that Breloom was going in for a Sky Uppercut attack. With my HP so low, the attack could be potentially fatal, but I was too busy trying to grab that blue berry. Braixen began squealing as she knew she needed to do something.

The fox used her white paw to grab the stick from her tail. The friction struck a match of sorts, but Braixen kept her eyes closed and refrained from the same Fire Spin attack. She concentrated on the energy around her and focused on the air surrounding Breloom. She summoned a small psychic wave that targeted the monster and came crashing together. The opponent burst into nothingness and I stood in shock.

"Nice!" I cheered.

Psyshock was going to be a great attack to have when she evolved; getting STAB on a powerful move is a real boost considering her current move pool. She obviously wasn't sure how she performed the move exactly, but she looked at her stick in amazement as she realized what had happened.

"Did I do that? That strong attack?"

"Yes!" I smiled.

The two of us beamed in excitement and she quickly asked me to help her train even. We ventured upon a group of Vileplume and she handily took care of them one-by-one. Each Vileplume shattered once the psychic wave was cast. Braixen watched her experience bar go higher and higher. She eventually made it to level thirty-five.

The two of us kept pressing on in the large Mystery dungeon floor. I knew Braixen's evolution was upon us, but I wanted to keep it a surprise. She obviously wasn't sure of what she was doing, so she probably thought she would be a Braixen forever.

The tall grass was growing even thicker. We moved through the foliage and struggled to find the next set of stairs. In the meantime, though, we managed to keep ourselves alert through talking.

"Lucario?" Braixen whispered.

"Hm?"

I immediately heard Braixen slap her hand against her forehead. "It's stupid, never mind."

I stopped walking in front of her and used an Aura Sphere on a Ferroseed. My orange orb clashed into the spawn, causing it to die like the many others lurking around. I studied Braixen's embarrassed face as she tried to desperately hide it in her tiny hands.

"Seriously, it's nothing. It's stupid."

I put a hand on her shoulder and she peeked out of her fingers. My warm smile must have affected her because she quickly returned the gesture. Braixen kept her hands on her face, but she felt more confident in what she had to say.

"I-It's just that your determination was like my brother's. He was always so instructive and protective and…I was wondering if…if I could stay with you for a while. " Braixen put a hand to her mouth and closed her eyes in a giggle. "Oh, look at me. I'm embarrassing myself again! Lucario, I'm sorry if I—"

"I'm here for you, Braixen. We're a party now, and I'm not letting anything happen to you," I said with a nod.

Braixen made an audible noise from inside her throat—a noise of longing. She threw herself onto my chest and cried. "Th-thank you. I can't believe I'm asking strangers to protect me in some dumb game. I must really sound shallow and stupid!" she chuckled.

At the surprise of the affection, I almost jumped out of her grasp. My arms jerked up, but I quickly put them back down. "Braixen, you're dealing with some serious trauma. I'm here to help. I'm also here to make sure Scizor pays for risking you and Cacnea to save himself. Just think of me…like a big brother."

Braixen hugged tighter. "I couldn't have put it better."

To be continued…


End file.
